A 30-year-old musician, Richard Uomo Endurance, has been sentenced to six months jail term for his involvement in an internment love scam by Justice Ramon Oshodi of a Lagos State Ikeja Special Offences Court.
According to reports, Endurance was convicted following his plea of guilt after he was docked on a lone count charge of possession of fraudulent documents.
Reports have it that the defendant who claims to be a musician was charged before the court after his arrest in December by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Endurance pleaded guilty to the lone charge preferred against him before the court bordering on possession of fraudulent documents. He agreed to the fact that he opted to plead guilty to the charge in a plea bargain arrangement.
It was reported that the prosecuting counsel, Ayanfe Adeahina, informed the court that the anti-graft agency received an anonymous complaint the defendant and others were living large without any legitimate means of livelihood.
While noting that surveillance was carried out to confirm and verify the complainant, he said “Based on that a raid was conducted and the defendant and others were arrested by the EFCC around Lekki Palm Estate, Ajah, Lagos”.
Adeahina added that upon his arrest, he was found with an IPhone 11 Pro Max and one HP laptop; his email and phones were analysed and several documents were found.
More so, further investigation revealed that he has several emails containing romance scams one of which he falsely represented himself to be Jack Selver, a white male from a dating site. The defendant was interviewed and he made a voluntary statement where he confirmed engaging in a dating scam for which he has in his procession various documents which are false.
“Subsequently he was charged to court but he approached the commission through his counsel,” he said.
Nevertheless, he prayed the court to convict the defendant accordingly.
In his judgement, the judge said the defendant is very much aware of the nature of the amended charge presented before the court.
“He admitted and plead guilty, thereby entering into the guilty plea voluntarily. Following your guilty plea and admission of the crime, I hereby convict you Richard Endurance Utomo. I have listened to your plea for leniency, I am convinced that you are a first-time offender who has not benefited from the proceeds of the fraud. I see that you are generally repentant. I do agree that a minimum sentence should be applied.”
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