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Alleged Government Pension Fraudster Gets Off Free
posted (April 27, 2016)

By now, you may not even remember that back in 2009, 291 thousand dollars went missing from the Treasury Department. That was 7 years ago, and today, the 3 women accused, 31 year old Monica Escarpeta, 34 year old Rhea Pennill and 60 year old Yvonne Bevans all got off theft and handling stolen goods charges. That happened in the court room of Justice Troadio Gonzalez

It was alleged that between September and May of 2009, Escarpeta stole $291,022 while she was working as a pension clerk at the Treasury Department. This was done allegedly by issuing bogus pension checks for deceased persons and others.  Pennill was charged with handling stolen goods for $151,967. Bevans was also charged with handling stolen goods for $12,472.

During the trial, the prosecution conceded that there was no case to answer for Pennill and Bevans, and so the charges against both were discontinued.

The prosecution then called 13 witnesses. Among them was Mark Jones, a senior auditor at the Audit Department. Jones testified that he was called on July 1, 2009 to do an audit and that he found 7 irregularities, regarding fictitious pensioners. Under cross examination Jones said that vital records needed to do a proper audit were not available. This, he said, were the documents which would include the name of pensioners, their date of birth, current age, and other important personal information. Jones also testified that the record revealed that the total amount of money that was disbursed was $398,843 from public funds. 

After the prosecution closed its case, Anthony Sylvestre, the attorney for the three accused, submitted that the evidence of Jones related to Escarpeta was inadmissible hearsay. Sylvestre also submitted that there was one glaring omission by the Crown that there was no evidence that any money was misappropriated or disbursed. 

After consideration, Justice Gonzalez upheld the no case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. The Crown was represented by Crown Counsels Killeru Awich and Rene Montero Jr.

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