By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
AN immigration officer and a civilian were charged and granted bail yesterday after allegedly forging fraudulent approval and extension forms for foreign nationals.
This comes a week after two immigration officers, Chief Immigration Officer Wyberg Brown and Immigration Officer Thorn Curry, were arraigned for an alleged bribery scheme to extend passports and visas.
Magistrate Shaka Serville charged officer Jolando Adderley, 35, and Jeleah Turnquest, 38, with numerous fraud offences.
Officer Adderley faced charges of possessing a forged document, uttering a forged document and fraud by false pretences.
Ms Turnquest was charged with two counts of possession of a forged document. Both defendants faced a shared charge of attempted fraud by false pretences.
David Cash represented the accused.
Between June and December 2022, Ms Turnquest was allegedly found with a forged Bahamas Immigration Department approval form and invoice dated October 3, 2022, bearing the name Ernie Abache Niar.
During that timeframe, both defendants allegedly attempted to obtain a fake work permit approval letter in the name of Ernie Abache Niar.
Officer Adderley allegedly attempted to use a forged Bahamas Department of Immigration extension form dated July 28 in the name of Hushandra Raymond Campbell, with which he was found on August 2.
After pleading not guilty, the defendants were informed that their bail was set at $4,000 with one or two sureties each.
Their trial begins on March 18, 2024.
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