Man, 48 arrested for fraud

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi
06/03/08

THE Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Western Regional Police Command is investigating a 48-year-old man who was cautioned and discharged by a court after defrauding a school and some individuals in Takoradi.
The suspect, Andy Quam, after his discharge from the court allegedly moved to a different location in the region, repeated his activities and allegedly succeeded in duping unsuspecting members of the community of thousands of cedis.
He is alleged to have also raped a female victim in a hotel room after collecting her capital and fled.
Quam was later arrested at the market circle in Takoradi.
The Western Regional Police Command which confirmed his arrest said Andy Quam  allegedly met a lady at Tikobo Number 2 and solicited money from her to clear some goods he had at the Takoradi Port because he had just returned from United States of America. He is also said to have pledged to refund the money to her after disposing of part of the goods.
Based on another promise to marry the woman who was said to be unmarried, the lady who deals in coconut oil, decided to help Quam.
Quam allegedly collected more than GHC1,400 and a mobile phone from another person in the village. He then allegedly chartered a taxi from the village to the Takoradi Port and gave a promise to employ the taxi driver to drive one of the fleet of the vehicles he was going to clear from the port on his return to the village.
In Takoradi, he allegedly contracted another taxi driver to be driving them around town with a promise to pay GHC50 a day.
He allegedly used the taxi for three-days, took him to the harbour branch of the Barclays Bank to pick a form which he claimed he was going to process for the collection of $90,000 his wife had sent to him from the United States of America.
The lady and taxi driver who did not know the motives of Quam, went with Quam for a good lunch at the expense of the taxi driver. Quam later allegedly asked the taxi driver to send him to the Western Regional Police Commander at Sekondi for some discussions.
At the Regional Police Command, Quam got down with the lady and sneaked through a footpath behind the regional Police headquarters to a hotel at Sekondi where he booked a room, locked the door and forcibly had sex with her.
When the lady went into the bathroom to clean herself after the act Quam bolted with her watch and bracelets and left a message with the receptionist for her to wait for him at the reception.
The taxi driver who had also waited at the Police headquarters for hours later called Quam to find out his whereabouts, he took offence and rained insults on him.
Unfortunately for Quam, that same day, the taxi driver spotted him around the market circle and raised an alarm and he was arrested.
Quam who was arrested by the Effiekuma Police in November last year for defrauding a school and some individuals and after posing as the producer of a children’s programme on Ghana Television (GTV) as well as an official of the Food and Drugs Board was cautioned and discharged by the court.
He told the court that “everything the taxi driver and the lady are telling you is true and an honest truth and I am very sorry.”
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