A teenager, who allegedly fled to Berbice with $400,000 of his employer’s money, was on Thursday charged for fraudulent conversion and placed on $100,000 bail.
Charlie Edwards of Kwakwani Water Front, Linden denied the charge when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
It is alleged that on December 25, at Georgetown, being solely entrusted by Lennox Brown, the Virtual Complainant with a sum of $400,000 to purchase a quantity of GTT and Digicel phone cards, he fraudulently converted the money to his own use and benefit.
Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones told the court that Brown gave the teen the sum of cash to purchase the phone cards for him but he never returned.
A report was subsequently made to the police and they pounced upon the young man at popular hotel in Berbice.
The court was told that they were able to recover $107,000 and a new cellular phone, which the teen reportedly said he purchased with the money.
However, in court on Thursday, the teenager in an attempt to mitigate the severity of the offense told the Magistrate that he has enlisted in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to serve the country.
“Dishonesty as a young man is a big thing. If you want to join the army, how will the nation trust you?” the Magistrate questioned in response to his statement.
