Tourist indicted for fraud

A tourist from Cameroon pled not guilty yesterday before the U.S. District Court after he was indicted on one count of wire fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud a Saipan-based businessman with his money amounting to $130,000.

Andre Didier Tella, who is from Yuande, the capital of the western central African nation, will remain under the custody of both the U.S. Marshal and the CNMI Division of Correction as he is also facing other charges before the local Superior Court. District Judge Alex R. Munson set a jury trial for the accused on July 24.

The accused appeared in orange-regulated prison uniform in yesterday’s indictment and was represented by court-appointed lawyer Bruce Berline. A French interpreter was also provided to him.

Based on the indictment filed by federal prosecutors, the 31-year-old tourist committed the wire fraud while he was on Saipan and had a telephone conversation with someone in Hong Kong last May 4 to execute the scheme.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Gregory Baka, lead prosecutor, recommended no bail for Mr. Tella for his temporary release “due to lack of ties” in the community. He arrived on the island with a visitor’s visa last April 4.

The crime, uncovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, involved counterfeiting $100 dollar bills by means of a chemical process which he and another suspect, Sylvester Etah, presented to Shi Ching Ke, owner of Mickies
Bar on Saipan, to entice him to invest by providing real paper money.

The businessman then gave $130,000 to the two in exchange for $300,000 in fake hundred dollar bills that the two supposedly would manufacture. But Mr. Shi later on discovered the fraud when he unrolled a sheet of bills containing only chemical-soaked pieces of black colored paper cut to the size of the U.S. currency.

Local police arrested Mr. Tella on May 5 after the karaoke bar owner complained to the Department of Public Safety. He was charged with theft by deception and is now in jail at the DOC in Susupe after the court denied him bail.

When he was investigated by the FBI, he admitted defrauding the businessman as per instruction from Mr. Etah who called him up from Korea before his arrest which came just hours before he was scheduled to depart Saipan.

FBI agents recovered $39,000 in U.S. currency, several chemicals and other miscellaneous products during a search at his room in Paradise Hotel.

The wire fraud charge, a felony, carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.