KINGSTON, Jamaica— A mother of five was handed a 36 years prison sentence on Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges involving a plot to defraud a loan agency of approximately $12 million, between December 2020 and September 2021.

Dubbed the mastermind of the scheme, Kadian Russell was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment at hard labour for four counts of uttering forged documents, two years’ imprisonment for 14 counts of obtaining credit by fraud, one year imprisonment for forgery and one year imprisonment for conspiracy to defraud.

She was also charged with four other accomplices, however, they will be sentenced at a later date.

Senior Parish Judge in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, Lori-Ann Cole-Montague, while handing down the sentence, disclosed that Russell will only serve three years, since a number of the sentences are to run concurrently.

Russell along with her co-accused were able to get a combined sum of $12.5 million in loans from the agency.

Additionally, investigations had revealed that Russell, who received a total of $8 million as a result of the scheme, only repaid a total of $1.2 million.

However, while standing before the judge, before she could be sentenced, the court was told that Russell was once again caught up in another plot to defraud. This time, it involved collecting money for rent for an apartment she did not own.

According to court documents, under the name Marcia Thompson, Russell was able to accumulate a total of $340,000 for both instances when the complainants paid over the money to rent the apartment. This occurred in March.

These new charges resulted in Russell’s bail being rescinded and she was escorted to court in handcuffs. Russell also pleaded guilty to the new charges of obtaining money by false pretence and conspiracy to defraud.

Unable to hide her shock that Russell would commit another crime of the same nature while on bail, Cole-Montague stated, “Miss Russell, you heard my shock just now, because you were on bail and awaiting sentencing from me. Is it that you are trying to push my hand to send you straight to prison? You’re doing a fantastic job at that, if that is your goal that you’re working towards, hats off to you…do you see a bed at South Camp [Adult Correctional Centre] that you like?”

Responding, Russell told the judge that she was not aware that the apartment was not “legal.”

“I have a friend, she was the one who asked me to assist her because she told me that the apartment was her relative’s and I did assist her by going and collecting the funds. Afterwards I discovered that the apartment was not really for her,” Russell added, stating that she also assisted the police in arresting her friend but she was later released.

Russell continued to explain: “She was arrested, I don’t know what happen between she and the police because they found the evidence there [at her house], I was surprised she was released. I acknowledged what I have done, but at the end of the day I will not take the fall for all of it, because all the fault was not on me only.”

But the prosecution told a different story. It was revealed that Russell was the one to arrange meetings with the complainants for viewing of the apartment, and she was the only one who collected the money. The other woman was only asked by Russell to assist with advertising the apartment, police investigation confirmed.

“You are on bail for serious matters and one would expect if you are on bail, knowing that a possible sentence is hanging over your head, you would be very careful with how you order spaces, sounds reasonable?” Cole-Montague stated.

“I tell people, I am one judge, I don’t sugar coat things for anybody because I don’t work at a bakery. It’s very difficult, even after weighing what you are saying, to be sympathetic to you. No wonder the lawyer not in the new case,” the judge went on to say, confirming that Russell’s attorney-at-law, Hopteon Marshall, was not representing her on the new matters.

Before sentencing, Marshall was hard pressed asking for leniency for his client. Acknowledging her actions, he pleaded for leniency on the sake of her children, ages ranging from one to 12 years old.

Russell, who also has a previous larceny conviction, is to return to court on July 11 for sentencing for the other matters.