MONTEGO BAY, St James — Dominican Denio Muses Heridia on Wednesday pleaded guilty to utteri ng a forged document when he appeared before Judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton in the St James Parish Court.

The court was told that on January 17 Heridia checked in for a Condor Airlines flight scheduled to depart Sangster International Airport for Frankfurt, Germany. During the check-in process he presented a Dominican passport along with a Spanish resident permit. Further checks revealed that the Spanish resident permit was fraudulent.

The discovery led to criminal charges being laid against him, and the matter placed before the court.

After considering the circumstances of the case and Heridia’s guilty plea, Judge Fairclough-Hylton imposed a fine of $20,000, with an alternative of 30 days’ imprisonment if the fine is not paid.

In addition to the monetary penalty, the court also ordered that Heridia be deported.

In another case, two Dominican women accused of using fraudulent passports were also ordered deported.

Altagracia Perez and Vinette Albarez also appeared before Judge Fairclough-Hylton in the St James Parish Court on Wednesday, facing charges of uttering a forged document. The women were not represented by legal counsel.

According to allegations read in court, on January 15 the women attempted to board a flight out of Jamaica and presented Guatemalan passports which were later found to be fraudulent. They were subsequently arrested and taken into custody, where an interpreter was called in to assist with translation.

In relation to Albarez, the allegations state that she arrived in Jamaica on January 13. It is further alleged that when questioned about the passport, she said she had applied for it through an office in Guatemala, but was unable to state what documents she had submitted in support of that application.

The court was told that she showed officers a Dominican identification card on her phone bearing her name, nationality and photograph.

When informed of the offence and cautioned, Albarez is alleged to have said, “I did not know why they gave me a fraudulent passport. I’m going to sue them.”

In relation to Perez, the allegations read that she arrived in Jamaica from the Dominican Republic on January 15. She is also alleged to have said that she applied for the passport through a Guatemalan office, but was unable to state what documents she submitted as part of that process. She reportedly presented a photograph of her Dominican ID bearing her name, nationality and photograph, and is alleged to have made no comment when informed of the offence.

During the proceedings, with the aid of an interpreter, the women told the court that they did not know the passports were fraudulent.

Meanwhile, attorney Lorenzo Eccleston, having learnt that the women were without legal representation, acted
amicus curiae, meaning he was not representing either woman but addressed the court to assist the proceedings, and stated that it would be beneficial for them to obtain an attorney.

Judge Fairclough-Hylton then asked the defendants whether they intended to secure legal representation. The women indicated that they were already guilty and had pleaded guilty.

The judge subsequently fined each woman $20,000 or three months’ imprisonment.

The court was further informed that the women were not in possession of their Dominican passports, but that arrangements are being made to have the documents sent to Jamaica. Judge Fairclough-Hylton told the defendants that once the passports are received and airline tickets are purchased, they will be returned to the Dominican Republic.