7 News Belize

Sergeant Sherwood Gets Off
posted (March 30, 2012)
He was a highly regarded, senior police officer commanding a sensitive post as the head of Eastern Division's Special Branch, but in May of last year, Sergeant Sherwood Wade had a mighty fall from grace when he was criminally charged for possession of counterfeit currency.

But, it was all for nothing, because today, Sergeant Wade, got off on the charge of possession of counterfeit currency. The charge was simply withdrawn in the courtroom of the Chief Magistrate.

The exact reason for the withdrawal is not known, but highly placed sources told 7News that the prosecutor did not have any evidence at his disposal to successfully prosecute this case.

A key point that must be proven in the charge of possession of counterfeit currency that the accused person knew that the money was counterfeit and that he or she then still tried to use that money. The prosecutor did not have evidence to prove that Sergeant Wade had this knowledge when he tried to deposit this money in the Belize Bank.

And with that, Wade was able to walk out of court a free man. So, why did the police charge Sergeant Wade with possession of counterfeit currency? This is a question that reporters asked of his attorney, Simeon Sampson, who said that he does not know why exactly.

It is notable that in the adjournment before this one, Sampson made a submission to Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith to have the matter struck out of court because it was it had been almost 9 months and his client still had not received his disclosure.

Chief Magistrate Smith did not uphold that submission at that time because, according to her, it was still a relatively new matter, and that the police needed time to properly investigate. She did set today's date as the day where trial must begin.

As we reported, on May 18, 2011 at around 10 a.m., Wade went to the Belize Bank branch on Coney Drive, and reportedly tried to deposit the $1,600 US dollars in counterfeit hundred dollar notes.

Police were called in as per procedure, and they confiscated the money. Two days later, Wade was arrested, charged and arraigned.

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