Dud cheques land American, lover in detention

[evanscholly 1]

THE arrest of Sharon Denis Thorpe on Feb. 20, 2010 was a drama to behold at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

Most of the travellers at the check-in counter of the airport could not fathom what would make operatives of the State Security Service arrest a beautiful young American lady.

They watched in astonishment as an argument ensued between Thorpe and the security men after which she was asked to step out of the line and immediately arrested for allegedly having ‘counterfeit instruments‘ worth $760,668 (about N114m) in her possession.

She was not alone. Her Nigerian fiancé, Musediku Kehinde, who was at the airport to see her off, was also arrested.

That was not Thorpe‘s first visit to Nigeria. Only that this time, her four-month stay has gradually turned into a nightmare. She first visited Kehinde in April 2009 and later came back in November 2009.

She was returning to her base in North Carolina, when she was allegedly caught with the fake financial documents.

When the documents were scrutinised, it was found that they included 42 pieces of Barner Bank cheques, 48 pieces of Citizens Bank cheques, 17 pieces of Fifth Third Bank cheques, 24 pieces of M&T bank cheques, 26 pieces of AmSouth Bank cheques and 15 pieces of Timber Wood cheques that were not genuine.

The SSS operatives then handed the suspects over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

When Thorpe who works with disabled patients in their houses under the employment of Maimade Nursing Agency, USA, and her boyfriend got to the Lagos office of the EFCC, their statements did not help investigators to unravel the source of the package allegedly found on the American.

Thorpe, 25, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, claimed that the parcel was given to her by one Femi Atom, who is a friend to her fiancé, for delivery to another friend in the USA. She also told the investigators that she did not have the address and telephone numbers of Atom.

It was learnt that Thorpe, who has a General Education Diploma Certificate and a certificate as a nursing assistant was not co-operative with the officials of the anti-graft agency.

A source at the commission said, ”Under normal circumstances, we should have charged them to court since but that was not possible because they did not cooperate with us.

”We needed to know the source of the fake cheques so that our investigations will be more thorough but the suspects refused to talk.

”When the couple finally did, they insisted that they must have their lawyers which we had no problem with but at the end of the day, they couldn‘t still give us useful clues. We can‘t keep them with us forever so they are going to court.”

Kehinde, a native of Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, also denied any link to the parcel. The 25-year-old claimed that he had a 2002 Ordinary National Diploma in Banking and Finance from The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Further investigations showed that the man was deported from the United States in 2006 after he and his elder brother, Lukman, were convicted by Wake Sheriff Department Court, Raleigh, for obtaining property by false pretences and financial identity theft.

His father, Olayinka Kehinde, a cab driver in USA was reportedly interviewed over this case in the United States.

The head, media and publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed SUNDAY PUNCH‘s findings.

He said, ”Sharon was arrested with $760,668.04 counterfeit American bank cheques as she was about to board a Qatar Airline flight to the United States of America.

”The suspect who holds an American passport No. 457647779 issued at North Carolina, USA, on Dec. 30, 2008, had been in Nigeria since November 2009, ostensibly on vacation with Musediku Akorede Kehinde, her fiancé, who is believed to be the mastermind of the crime. Kehinde was also at the airport. The couple will jointly face a Federal High Court on a 205-count charge bordering on forgery.”

One of the 205 counts reads as follows, ”That you Sharon Denis Thorpe and Musediku Kehinde on the 20th day of February 2010 in the Lagos division of the Federal High Court conspired to commit an offence to wit; forgery and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 19(3) (6) and punishable under section (2) (a) of the miscellaneous offences Act CAP M17, Vol.9, laws of the federation of Nigeria.”

Our correspondent sent a mail to the American Embassy, Abuja, to get their reaction on the arrest of Thorpe by Nigerian security operatives and a reply was being awaited as at press time.

Depending on how true this story is, the moral of it is DO NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING PARCELS FROM ANYONE YOU DON'T KNOW, HAVE THEIR ADDRESS OR PHONE NUMBER. She could easily be an innocent carrier thinking she is doing her boyfriend's friend a favor, now see where she is now.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

wow. she was either in on it or dumb as ####.

[justashooter 430]

nigeria? a banking scam in nigeria? say it ain't so, joe.

deported for similar crimes before? say it ain't so, joe.