Police are looking for a con - man who pretended to be a rotarian fundraising for a dying child with cancer. But instead he ripped off at least one business of $1,700 dollars.
Police are looking for Michael Rodriguez, who they believe was the master mind of the scam. The bogus rotarian used the name Allan Usher and here's how he made the pitch to the Farmers Light Plant, a business in Spanish Lookout. We have a voice recording from the owner back in late April:
Voice of: Conning Victim
"I want to tell you of a little situation. A man called me by the name of Allen Usher and asked if we would like to donate. They had a bad case with a child that had cancer, a 10 year old kid who had to go to Merida quick. He was saying that Tropic Air was sponsoring the flight and the only thing they needed was $5,000 but they already had $3,200. They only needed another $1,800, and asked if we could please donate. We decided we would pay the balance. The man came to pick it up, he looked a little shady but I said the world gives us all different cultures in life so maybe the shady people aren't the most richest ones to give him a little job. I gave him the $1,700. He looked so shady, so I thought I would call the Rotary to see if Allen Usher was working for them. Now I find out there's no Allen Usher that's working for the Rotary, there's no flight going to Merida through Tropic Air. I just found out that I got screwed by these boys. If you see that car and those guys, they're a bunch of crooks."
That happened on April 27th. The victim immediately reported the incident and police intercepted a black SUV at Unitedville. The driver of the vehicle, Edwardo Herrera, told police that he had only taken two men to Farmers Light Plant and he identified Michael Rodriguez as one of them. He identified the other person as David Rauno. Later the same day police intercepted a mini passenger bus on George Price Highway and detained Rauno. He appeared in San Ignacio Magistrate's Court on April 30 and he was charged with obtaining property by deception. He pleaded not guilty, but was denied bail and he was remanded until July second. Today Rauno, represented by attorney Rachel Montejo, appeared before Justice Francis Cumberbatch for bail hearing but the hearing was deferred until next week because the Crown was not in possession of the facts.
Rodriguez remains at large and is wanted by police.
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