Justice P.I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced one Silvar Meche Uzoeto (aka. William Parker) to one-year imprisonment for impersonation and possession of fraudulent documents contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015, and punishable under the same Section of the Act.
He was convicted on Wednesday, July 13, 2023, after pleading “guilty” to the one count charge brought against him by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The charge reads: “That you, Silvar Meche Uzoeto (aka. William Parker), between June 2022 and May 2023, at Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowingly had in your possession via your mail address williamparker940@gmail.com a document containing false Pretence, to wit: sending the photograph of a white American man: wherein you represented yourself to Jenni Reed an American citizen as a white American who goes by the name William Parker with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under same Section of the Act”.
In view of the plea of “guilty” by the defendant, prosecution counsel, Dr. Ben Ubi prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly. Counsel to the defendant, M.M. Suleiman did not oppose the prayer by the prosecution but urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Justice Ajoku convicted and sentenced the defendant to one year in the Correctional Centre with N1,000,000.00 as option of fine payable into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The Judge also ordered that the iPhone 13 Pro Max mobile phone, Redmi 11 and a Dell Laptop recovered from the convict be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Uzoeto was arrested by operatives of the Commission during a sting operation sometime in June, 2023, at Golf Estate, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Investigation revealed that the convict is into Dating Scam and created thirty two (32) fake Gmail accounts which he uses in ignoble trade.
