St James men on fraud charges
MONTEGO BAY – Two St James men who have been charged in connection with the fraudulent use of a vehicle’s license plate and the possession of fraudulent motor vehicle documents are to return to the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court on March 30.
They appeared before the court on Tuesday.
George Hamilton, who is represented by attorney-at-law Ronald Paris, has been charged with aiding and abetting in the fraudulent use of a license plate. The charges of uttering a fraudulent document, driving without motor vehicle insurance and the fraudulent use of a license plate were, however, levied against Hugh Norman. He was fined $10,000 or 30 days on the non-insurance charge and $50,000 or six months for the alleged uttering of the fraudulent document. In relation to the fraudulent license plate, the matter will again be called up for mention when he returns to court.
According to court documents, on March 27 of last year, the police, after receiving information about a Honda Integra motor car, journeyed to Bottom Pen in Glendevon where they saw the car and made enquiries.
When no one came forward to claim the vehicle, the court was told, a wrecker began to remove it and it was then that Norman came forward and claimed that the vehicle belonged to him.
He was asked to produce the documents, which he did, but when the officer looked at his registration certificate, he noticed that it did not match the license plate on the car and brought it to the accused man’s attention. Norman, however, told the police that he had purchased the vehicle from Hamilton with the license plate attached. The officer then proceeded to examine Norman’s insurance documents and observed that the insurance policy number differed from the number on the letter.
As a result, Norman was taken into custody and slapped with the relevant charges.
Hamilton was later taken to the station where, during questioning, he admitted that he sold Norman the car with the license plate to allow him some time to “put his things in order”. Like Norman, Hamilton too was taken into custody and charged with aiding and abetting.
