Tiffany Lamb Denied Bail for Theft from Elderly Woman

Tiffany Lamb

This afternoon, bail was denied to a thirty-three year old woman of Belize City who is being accused of stealing from an elderly woman she befriended.  Tiffany Lamb appeared in court accused of stealing over five thousand dollars from the senior citizen by swiping Joyce Goff’s ATM card.  Lamb had confessed to the crime but in court she pleaded not guilty to all twenty-one counts read to her. The alleged theft of five thousand three hundred dollars is said to have occurred over a period of thirteen days less than two weeks after the ATM card was stolen from Goff’s house. Allegations are that between October twenty-first and as recently as November third, they money was withdrawn from the account unknowingly to Goff.  The first withdrawal from the Atlantic Bank’s ATM on Freetown Road occurred on October 24, 2014 in the sum of two hundred dollars; the amount of the other twenty withdrawals varied and would be done in some instances twice for the day up until November third.  In court, no plea was taken from Lamb who was unrepresented. There was heavy objection to bail from court prosecutor, Corporal Carmen Selgado due to the nature of the offense and on the grounds that elderly persons ought to have protection from the courts.   Senior Magistrate, Sharon Frazer, denied her bail and Lamb was remanded to the Belize Central Prison and is due back in court on January twenty-first, 2015. In her report to the police, Goff said that she would often ask Lamb to carry out errands and that on some occasions she had asked Lamb to withdraw money from her account. Because she knew the pin number, Lamb took the card without her permission and withdrew the thousands of dollars. Goff was alerted of the frequent withdrawals by the bank. In her caution statement, Lamb said she intended to steal only three thousand six hundred dollars but ended up stealing more.  She also promised to replace the money after she had sold a car.