Defense Attorney Dickie Bradley says charges won’t stick

Richard "Dickie" Bradley

Two Ladyville residents and one Belize City resident were charged with laundering about sixty thousand U.S. dollars on Tuesday. The cash was found inside the grey Ford Expedition driven by thirty-seven year old Sidney Ellis, an auto dealer of Curl Thompson Street. Also in the vehicle at the time were thirty year old Scott Stringer, twenty-three year old Julia McCord and two female minors.  The Financial Intelligence Unit was informed and all three were charged with Failure to Declare Funds and Money Laundering.  It sounds like an open and shut case but according to their attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley this is another case that the police department will surely lose.

Dickie Bradley, Attorney

“Fifty seven thousand US dollars was found in the vehicle.  The young lady who is charged today had two thousand four hundred US on her.  Her name is Laura McCord.  Her common-law husband, Scott Stringer, he and Ms McCord same into the country from the US.  If you have two thousand four hundred dollars you are not money laundering.  I have the receipt which the police counted the fifty seven thousand US dollars plus a couple hundred more and gave to the person.  There is no receipt for the two thousand four hundred.  When the US Embassy called the police and said what happened to Ms McCord’s money that is when they then added it on the charge sheet, not on the police receipt.  But my point is this, if you’re accusing my clients of entering Belize at Sand Hill you start to lose your case already.  You can’t come in Belize at Sand Hill unless a helicopter brought them in.  So how can they fail to declare that they had US on them in Sand Hill?  In any event, they were charged two days ago and they failed to give them a charge sheet that disclosed.  Yes, they failed to declare the money.  They have no problem admitting that and they came to court this morning prepared to say, not they, one person, prepared to say to the Magistrate yes I did not declare the money.  I have a reason for it but if you find that I am guilty of an offense I am prepared to pay the fine.  No problem with that.  Suddenly when they came to court they were whisked away and brought back this afternoon with a different charge sheet to say now that they were money laundering. For money laundering there has to be a crime, there has to be that I know that the proceeds of criminal activities.  I was trying to do something criminal with the money.”