Contractor offered bail for $3 million theft

A St James man accused of stealing approximately $3 million that had been given to him to purchase a house was offered bail when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Forty-eight-year-old contractor Owen Allen, of Barrett Hall in St James, is charged with fraudulent conversion. He was offered bail in the sum of $350,000, and had his case set for mention on February 24.

It is alleged that the female complainant, who was previously residing overseas, sent funds for Allen to buy a house for her; however, on her arrival in Jamaica, the complainant discovered that the house had not been bought and Allen had reportedly used the money for himself.

A report was made to the police, and Allen was subsequently arrested and charged. However, the court was not told when the money had been sent to the defendant, or when he was arrested.

In making a bail application on Monday, Allen's attorney, Dalton Reid, told Resident Magistrate Carolyn Tie that his client had no previous criminal convictions.

"He is a draftsman, a contractor, and he has no previous convictions," Reid said of Allen. "What I would like to do is to read the statements, and after that, I would be in a better position to advise the court," Reid added.

Clerk of the Court Orrett Brown said that the prosecution was not opposed to bail for Allen.

"The only concern we had was in relation to his identity, but that concern has been resolved. We are not opposed to bail," said Brown.

"I am going to offer him bail in the sum of $350,000, with two sureties, and he will report at the Barrett Town Police Station every Wednesday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.," said Tie, while ordering that Allen surrender his travel documents to the police.

- C.T.