Duo accused of running fake church feeding programme

A couple accused of scamming victims into donating monies to a fake church feeding programme was on Friday jointly charged with two counts of fraud.

Kevin Smith, 34 and Tamika Times, 25, both of Dowding Street, Kitty, Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and denied both charges.

It is alleged that on September 29, 2017, at Georgetown, with the intent to defraud, they obtained from Nale Ramit $1000 by pretending they were in a position to receive money on behalf of the Full Gospel Assembly Church Children Feeding programme.

It is further alleged that on the same day and location the duo obtained $1,000 from Claire Thomas under the same pretense. According to reports, the duo had a document, purporting to be representatives of the church and asked for donations.

The accused managed to collect monies from two persons but were caught when they approached their third victim, who observed that the document did not have an authentic stamp from the church.

They were released on $20,000 bail for each charge. The matter was adjourned to October 20.