A former radio talk show personality in Antigua will be sentenced on May 4 after she pleaded guilty to 19 fraud-related charges committed in 2019.
Janice Samuel appeared before High Court Judge Colin Williams on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to committing five counts of fraud and 14 of obtaining money by virtue of a forged instrument.
She told the Court that she did crime due to financial difficulties and the need to assist her children in the United Kingdom.
Samuel had been accused of stealing EC$107,119.27 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) from plumbing firm H2One Limited where she worked as an office assistant between March 15 and July 7, 2019.
Her employer reportedly began looking into her actions and his accounts in July 2019 after news broke that she was convicted of embezzlement.
When he audited his accounts, he is said to have found that several cheques he had signed had been filled and paid out.
He reportedly told the police that he had never filled out any sums on those cheques, nor approved their payments, and his staff knew that his approval was required.
Samuel is said to have prepared cheques and issued them to an associate who was not affiliated with the company. They were allegedly cashed at a gas station by the individual, but when questioned he said he did not know he participated in a crime.
On August 1, 2019, she was spared jail time, receiving a two-year suspended sentence from High Court Justice Iain Morley in that case.
In August 2021 Samuel was remanded back to prison after missing her court hearing.
Samuel could face a lengthy jail term as the offenses of forgery and obtaining money by virtue of a forged instrument each carry 14-year maximum sentences in Antigua.
CMC/
