Alberttown woman says fake CID cop demanded money

A Second Street, Alberttown woman is calling on the police to investigate a recent incident in which an individual purporting to be a police officer approached her home demanding money he claimed as being owed to him.

According to Sharda Ramotar, whose husband operates a DirecTV business from their Lot 96, Second Street, Alberttown home, the man, while claiming to be a Lance Corporal attached to CID, Eve Leary, approached her home two times this week demanding monies which he claimed her husband owes him and another businessman.

She said her husband, who is out of the country, told her that he had no knowledge of being indebted to anyone, stating that a previous matter he had with a Regent Street businessman a few years ago, who was not satisfied with his DirecTV service, was already settled.

Recounting the two incidents which occurred on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the woman said that the man rode up to her home on a motorcycle on Wednesday and after displaying some documents, claimed that her husband and a business partner owed him some $100,000. She said when asked for a form of identification, the man stated that he was a police officer and that he did not have to display any form of ID. She said he left soon after and promised to return on Thursday.

According to the concerned woman, the man returned to her home sometime after 8 am on Thursday morning, this time in a more demanding manner and using a series of expletives demanded the sum of money he claimed, her husband owed him. She said he then threatened to return at midnight if he didn’t receive monies owed to him by lunch time on that day.

She said while the man was at her home that Thursday morning, an employee of her husband’s business which operates under the name’ Status Investments’, recognized the man as a security guard who he thought  worked at a company on Regent Street. She said the employee and the individual then had an argument, which attracted numerous onlookers following which, the man rode away.

She said the matter was reported to the Alberttown police station on Thursday even as her employees carried out checks at the police headquarters and were told that officers there had no knowledge of the individual.

Ramotar said that her employee went to the company where he knew the man was being employed as a security officer, but someone there informed that the individual was under the employ of another bank in the city. The woman said that she and her employee then proceeded to the company, and to their surprise, while seeking an audience with the manager, she observed ‘the lance corporal at work’ with several files in his hand.

She said the man ‘jumped back’ on seeing her and her employee, and after he was pointed out to staff there as the individual who approach-ed her home, the man walked out of the facility. She said the officials of the company informed her to have the police deal with the issue.

Stabroek News understands that the individual in question is in fact a rural constable who works at the company as an office assistant. The police are said to be in search of the individual as they carry out investigations into the matter.

Stabroek TV Inc is the only authorized distributor of DirecTV in Guyana and persons who have used Ramotar’s unauthorized service have lodged complaints about the service and refunds.