Court Sentences Kwara Man Posing As White Lady To Defraud 2 Men

 

Yusuf Olarewaju, a 30-year-old man from Erin-Ile in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State, has been sentenced to six months imprisonment.

He was sentenced on Tuesday, by Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, for his involvement in Internet related offences.

Olarewaju was arraigned by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, where Justice Yusuf found him guilty of the one count charge brought against him.

Investigations by the Commission had revealed that Olarewaju used a fraudulent email: [email protected] to commit the fraud.

He posed as one Smith Katie, a white female from Missouri, USA, to strike relationships with two men -James Gibson (Jimmy) and Stephen Speer.

It was during the course of interacting with them between 2021 and 2022, that he was able to swindle them, to the tune of $30,000 USD. 

The defendant not only confessed to the crime, but also pleaded guilty when he was arraigned in court on November 11, 2022.

At the resumed sitting of the case on Tuesday, Justice Yusuf said he had carefully evaluated the facts of the case which included the guilty plea entered by the defendant and was convinced that there were justifiable reasons to convict the defendant and therefore pronounced him guilty.

Consequently, the judge sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment with an option of fine of N200,000.

The court also forfeited all the instruments used by the convict to perpetrate the crime, including the proceeds of crime – a Mercedes Benz GLK 2010 model and a Toyota Camry 2013 model.

Others are a Toyota Corolla 2005 model, iphone 14 promax and the sum of N24,364,860 (Twenty Four Million, Three Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty Naira).