After appearing in court last month charged with defrauding four persons of their money in a visa scam, Simone King also known as Diane De Nobrega was yesterday charged with eight counts of fraudulent conversion in a motorcar scam.
The most recent of the new charges was committed the next day after De Nobrega had posted bail in her visa scam cases where she was jointly charged with another person.
In the charges brought against her yesterday under the name Dianne De Nobrega, she allegedly obtained $400,000 from Dallas Forte on January 20, 2010 at Georgetown by falsely pretending that she was in a position to deliver a 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse Altezza car knowing same to be false.
She also allegedly collected $400,000 from Shondell Sampson on January 21, 2010 for a 2007 Toyota Allion car; the same amount was reportedly collected from Wesley Williams on January 6, 2010 for a Toyota Carina AT 212 car.
And on January 22, 2010 De Nobrega reportedly obtained $480,000 from Nigel Simpson for a 2008 Toyota Allion car.
She also reportedly collected $300,000 each from Parris Belgrave on November 30,2009 for a Toyota Raum; Jermaine Lowe on December 12, 2009 for a Toyota Raum and Drupatie Singh on December 10, 2009 for a Toyota Carina AT 212 car.
The final charge read that on December 28, 2009 De Nobrega obtained $1 million from Collin Bazil by falsely pretending that she was in a position to deliver a Toyota Hilux Vigo Extra Cab 4X4, knowing same to be false.
De Nobrega was not required to plead to the indictable charges. Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson presided over the matter.
Meanwhile, Police Prosecutor Inspector Stephen Telford objected to bail being granted on the grounds that these offences were committed a day after De Nobrega was granted bail for a similar offence.
De Nobrega was granted $1 million bail on January 19. According to one of the charges read to her she collected money from one of the virtual complainants the very next day.
Earlier this month, this newspaper had reported the concerns of customers of A&J Auto Sales who said they had paid sums of money for cars but had not received the vehicles.
The auto sales business according to reports was owned by De Nobrega. Her customers had expressed shock at seeing the woman’s name and photo last month in the news when she was charged in the visa scam and were demanding their money back.
The day after the story was published, De Nobrega contacted this newspaper and said that her business was legitimate, emphasising that she had done nothing wrong.
The woman behind the Queenstown A&J Auto Sales Company had said that she had every intention of repaying her customers but lamented that she needed time.
At least two of her customers, who learnt of her business through an advertisement in this newspaper, said they had paid $200,000 and $500,000 respectively to the woman and signed contracts and were expected to pay a further lump sum when the cars were delivered and $40,000 monthly until completion of payment.
However De Nobrega had said that she asked her customers, 19 of whom had demanded their money back, for 14 days and promised to give them $40,000 extra “for the wait period and any running around they had to do.”
Meanwhile, De Nobrega along with Tulsie Persaud was charged on January 11 and 12 with four counts of obtaining money by false pretence when they took large sums of money from persons on different days by falsely pretending that they were in a position to obtain US visas for them knowing same to be false.
De Nobrega’s address is given as Phase Two Good Hope, East Coast Demerara. The 29-year-old who was represented by Attorney-at-Law James Bond was remanded to prison and is to return to court on March 19.
