Three alleged lottery con artists were apprehended and more than $10,000 in cash and other assets were confiscated as a consequence of a series of investigations that began earlier this month in Hanover and Westmoreland, the Financial Investigations Division (FID) he previously noted.
The suspects have been named as Shane Blagrove, also known as “Big Meech,” a 29-year-old unemployed man with an address in Green Island’s Prospect District in Hanover, Deck Evans, a 31-year-old party promoter from Westmoreland’s Whitehall District, and Shannon Taylor-Christie, a 37-year-old bar owner from Flamstead/Kingsvale in Hanover.
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The FID, which provided the information that enabled the suspects to be apprehended by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Area 1 Operational Support Team, the Westmoreland Police, the JCF’s Counter Terrorism & Organized Crime Investigations Branch (CTOC), and the Major Organized Crime and Anti-corruption Agency (MOCA), with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Fusion Centre, claims that the operations were conducted from May 10 to May 18.
The FID said that in addition to the over $10,000 in cash, a 2014 Toyota Mark X and lottery fraud equipment, such as cell phones, US-based bank cards, a laptop computer, and a variety of financial papers, were also taken.
The Law Reform (Fraudulent Transaction) (Special Provision) Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) were both allegedly broken by Evans and Blagrove. Infractions of the Larceny Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) were brought against Taylor-Christie. On June 2, 2023, Blagrove will show up at Hanover Parish Court. On June 6, 2023, Evans and Taylor-Christie are expected to appear in court in Westmoreland Parish.
“The persons apprehended are believed to be directly involved in defrauding elderly United States nationals of over US$100,000,” said Keith Darien, Principal Director of Investigations for the FID. He added, “Their arrest is a demonstration of the effectiveness of cross-border and local collaboration which has been strategically strengthened and refocused over recent years.”
He continued, “Regardless of the jurisdiction in which Jamaicans commit financial crimes, once a mutual legal assistance treaty exists, it will be leveraged to bring these persons to justice and deprive them of their illicit wealth.”
Darien noted, “We continue to urge Jamaicans to direct their creative energies into wholesome, legitimate endeavors instead of aspiring to criminality.”
