Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin yesterday convicted a 24-year-old Francis Stephen Oke Eghele for presenting himself to be a female America woman in order to defraud unsuspecting victims.
He was convicted alongside one Adeniyi Aliyu over similar offences.
The duo of Francis and Adeniyi were arraigned on separate charges by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Count 2 of the charge against Francis reads: “That you, Stephen Oke Eghele (a.k.a Sugarmom) sometime in July, 2022 or thereabout at Ilorin, Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court attempted to commit an offence of cheating by personation by pretending and representing yourself to be a white woman called sugar mum who was in a romantic relationship with a white man, Oliver Pedrin as it is contained in your Instagram account: Sugarmomheater-0034 and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 95 of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria”
The charge against Adeniyi read: “That you, Adeniyi Adekunle Aliyu sometime in November 2022, in Ilorin, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be a white female named Jessica Joanne with email address, [email protected] which you used to communicate with one Joe Maccreeary and induced him to send you the sum of $200 via Google play Gift Cards and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 321 of the Penal Code Law and Punishable under section 324 of the same Law”
The duo pleaded guilty to their respective charge.
Following their guilty pleas, Anselm Ozioko (Jnr) and Isabel Adeniran who represented the EFCC in the prosecution the cases urged the courts to convict the defendants based on their guilty pleas and the evidence tendered before it.
In his judgment, Justice Akinpelu sentenced Francis to six months imprisonment each on count 1 and 2 with option of fine of N100,000 on each count.
The court also ordered that one Infinix phone, which the convict used to perpetrate the crime be forfeited to the federal government.
In the same vein, Adeniyi was sentenced to six months imprisonment with option of N200,000 .
The court ordered that one Nokia phone, HP laptop, Infinix phone used to commit the crime and the sum of N200,000 which he benefited from the unlawful activities be forfeited to the federal government.
