The Benin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of Wisdom Ogharadoro and Jonathan Queen on one count charge of impersonation before Justice F. O. Olubanjo of the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State.
Ogharadoro was arraigned for fraudulently impersonating the identities of Mary Harry, Jeff Handrick, Wendy Binary and Jerry Williams (all white men) in order to defraud unsuspecting victims while Queen impersonated Sophia Rodriguez, a United States of America citizen to send fraudulent documents and pictures to one Roberto Arnoldo.
The charge against Ogharadoro read: “That you Wisdom Ogharadoro (alias Mary Harry, Jeff Handrick, Wendy Binary and Jerry Williams) on or about 23rd of March 2021 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did impersonate the identities of one Mary Harry, Jeff Handrick, Wendy Binary and Jerry Williams by sending fraudulent/scammed mails and pictures on Hangout through the internet which documents you claimed emanated from them with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(1) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(IV) of the same Act.”
Upon arraignment, the defendants pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to them.
In view of their plea, EFCC counsel, K .Y. Bello, prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendants in accordance with the plea bargain agreement between the prosecution and the defendants.
Counsel to the defendants, Igbuan .P. Ilofuan pleaded with the court to temper justice.
Justice Olubanjo convicted and sentenced Ogharadoro and Queen on Wednesday to three years imprisonment with an option of N200,000 fine each. The judge also ordered that items recovered from them during investigation be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In a related development, the Benin Zonal Command on Thursday arraigned one Mathew Collins ( a.k.a. Leonard Rico) on a two-count charge of fraudulent impersonation before Justice S .M. Shuaibu of the Federal High Court sitting in Benin, Edo State.
Collins is alleged to have some time in 2018 and 2019 fraudulently impersonated the identity of one Leonard Rico, a white man in his Gmail account and through that platform sent documents to unsuspecting ladies with the intent to defraud them of their hard-earned monies.
One of the charges reads: “That you Mathew Collins ( a.k.a Leonard Rico ) sometimes between 2018 and 2019 in Warri, Delta State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did fraudulently impersonated identities of one Leonard Rico, a white man, in your Gmail account by sending documents to unsuspecting ladies through the internet which documents you claimed emanated from the said Leonard Rico with the intent to obtain money from the ladies and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(IV) of the same Act” .
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the chargeS preferred against him, prompting the prosecution counsel, K .Y. Bello to pray the court to fix a date for trial.
However, counsel to the defendant, O .F. Ajayi, pleaded with the court to allow his client to continue on his administrative bail earlier granted him by the EFCC, assuring that he will be available to face his trial.
Justice Shuaibu adjourned the matter till February 1 and 2, 2022, for hearing, while the defendant is to continue on his administrative bail.
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