He's been well publicized as a land swindler and con man, but Corozal Resident Elroy Bastarachea continues to prey on people desperate to get a piece of land.
Tonight, he's at the Belize Central Prison after he was taken to court for once again receiving money for bogus land transactions.
31 year-old Grisel Botes, a resident of Libertad, reported to Corozal Police that between April 3 and June 3, she paid Elroy a total of $23,875. Botes said that she trusted that he was selling her land in San Pedro, the Belize District, and the Cayo District, because he was her friend from Patchakan Village for the past 10 years. She says that instead of getting those lands for her, he jilted her and stole the money. She found out because he told her that he would have been able to get the land papers from the Lands Department, where he claimed he was employed. She says that she's not gotten any land papers.
Police investigation into the matter revealed that Elroy isn't working on any land papers, and that he can't even account for the money he received from Grisel Botes. Police have since charged him with 13 counts of obtaining property by deception, and he has been arraigned in Corozal Magistrate's Court. He was granted bail of ten thousand dollars, which he couldn't meet, so he was remanded to prison until he can make arrangements for bail. He must return to court on August 15.
Our archives show that in 2011, he was charged for a similar swindle - except that time it was an American woman - and he was charged for forging documents, obtaining property by deception and obtaining money transfer by deception.
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