An American national is strongly believed to have separately conned two German
nationals of over $41,000 in construction materials and household items. But
Cayo police we are not sure if Belize law enforcement will be able to catch
their main suspect. That is because in the last week of May, the U.S. national
identified as Lee Paddan was deported and escorted back to the United States
by U.S. Marshals where he was wanted in that country not for theft but for sexual
offences.
It is not certain how long Lee Paddan may have been hiding out in Belize but
while in the country he was very busy at work holding down two jobs as a maintenance
worker for Paradise Estate Resort located in the Cayo District and a keeper
of a container that held over US$79,000 worth of construction materials.
In the first case, the resort owner German national Peter Albert Steins told
San Ignacio Police that between the months of January and March he left Lee
Paddan to maintain Paradise Estate Resort while he was away in the United States.
But the only business Lee Paddan appeared to have taken care of was allegedly
stealing twenty eight thousand, eight hundred dollars worth of household items.
In the second incident, the container’s owner another German national
Gerhard Max Halscher told authorities that Lee Paddan was the only person who
had a key and access to his container that held seventy nine thousand, five
hundred and seventy u.s dollars worth of construction materials but all that
was stolen sometime on March third. According to Halscher the discovery was
not made until one that afternoon
But with the main suspect Lee Paddan back in the hands of US Marshalls now
facing sexual offense charges in that country, we are not sure if and when he
will ever be brought to justice for the crimes he is allege to have committed
while in Belize. When 7News contacted Cayo Police they told us that in the case
of the stolen construction materials they are now looking for one person in
Belize who they consider to be of interest.
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