Ocho Rios, St Ann – A 28 year-old deacon will appear in court today to face a charge of conspiracy in connection with last month’s attempted robbery in Ocho Rios, during which three armed men were shot dead by the police.

Errol Green of Lime Hall, St Ann, was charged Tuesday – two weeks after being caught in what police say was the would-be robbers’ get-away car.

On February 23, three men were shot during a shoot-out with the police after attempting to rob a store located about 100 metres from the police station, cops said.

Lawmen say Green sped away from the area during the shoot-out, after what was supposed to be a daring daylight robbery.

They connected him to the incident after he called the cellular phone of one of the gunmen. According to police reports, a police officer answered the phone, told the driver that everything was okay and asked him where he was. After Green gave his location, the police officer who was pretending to be one of the armed men told him to remain where he was and he would join him.

A heavy detachment of plainclothes cops then closed in on Green, who was sitting in a parked car on the roadway in the vicinity of the Reynold’s Pier in Ocho Rios.

Meanwhile, Green’s arrest has sparked some controversy in St Ann as there are conflicting reports about which church he is affiliated with.

According to the police, he is a deacon for the Lime Hall Pentecostal Church. But pastor Jonathan Ward of the Faith Temple United Pentecostal Church in Lime Hall, told the Observer that Green was not from the Pentecostal flock but a member of the Church of God of Prophecy.

“A lot of people have been calling me, asking what was happening at my church and I don’t have anything like that happening,” he said. “It’s the Church of God of Prophecy in Lime Hall, at the ball ground. It’s been giving me a hard time, everybody keeps calling and nothing like that took place at my church, so I really want it cleared up.”