EFCC arraigns undergraduate for alleged $5,886.91 fraud, iPhone theft

For defrauding an American of an iPhone 7 and $5,886.91, a court has ordered that a 25-year-old undergraduate, Sunday Deele Noble, be remanded in Port Harcourt Correctional Centre.

Justice E. A Obile of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, gave the order following the arraignment of Noble by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for impersonation and obtaining money by false pretence.

Nobel, who is an undergraduate of the University of Port Harcourt, was arraigned on a four-count charge, one of which reads: “That you, Sunday Deele Noble, on or about February 13, 2019, within the jurisdiction of this court, did fraudulently obtained an iPhone 7 worth $319.84 with shipping cost of $14.69 through FedEx Shippers from Julie Fink and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges. The EFCC said Noble was arrested in a raid based on intelligence on his alleged fraudulent activities. The commission said its investigation showed that the defendant presented himself as Ryan Murray, a Florida, United States-based contractor on Facebook, and used the false identity to defraud his victims – Julie Fink and Mary Real. Apart from the iPhone 7, Fink sent a total sum of $5,886.91 to the defendant.

Justice Obile ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre pending determination of bail application while the matter was adjourned till April 6, 2020.

Meanwhile, a magistrate court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State capital has ordered the remand of a 43-year-old man in Ilesa correctional center for refusing to produce a suspect he stood for to continue his trial.

The accused, Dele Abiodun, was said to have stood as surety for one Femi Abiodun on October 10, 2017, at High Court of Osogbo in charge number HOS/46/2014

The prosecutor, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Idoko John, told the court that the defendants promised to produce the defendant in the court till the conclusion of the litigation.

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge leveled against him by the police. The defense counsel, R.A. Nngu urged the court to grant his client bail in most liberal term

In a swift reaction, the prosecutor opposed the bail of the defendants informing the court that the defendant did not reside in the magisterial jurisdiction. He further stated that the defendant resided in Ekiti state and later relocated to Lagos state in the course of the investigation

The presiding magistrate, O. O. Oladoke ordered the remand of the defendant in ilesa correctional center and adjourned the matter to March 31 for ruling on bail.