Scammer found guilty of swindling thousands from schools

Artemio Acosta

It’s payback time for a graphics designer, who made his rounds swindling individuals and primary schools out of cash. He’s beaten numerous charges in the past but today, thirty-three year old Artemio Acosta was found guilty in abscencia of seven counts of Obtaining Property by Deception. The conviction is for scamming money from Lucky Strike Government School, Our Lady of the Way Roman Catholic School and the Ladyville Evangelical Primary School. A warrant has been issued for the con artist’s arrest and a non-custodial sentence of one thousand dollars for each count was imposed, which adds up to seven thousand dollars. That is to be paid by December thirty-first or Acosta will face a seven year jail term.  He was also slapped with compensation fines, which means he must repay all the money he conned.

Acosta hit three schools in October 2009 and the principals testified against him today. The first was Linda Lopez from Lucky Strike, who claims that she paid Acosta an advance of two hundred dollars for an order of T-shirts and ten days later, he collected another two hundred and sixty dollars which he claimed was to get the shirts from the Customs Department. Next to testify was Greta Parks, the former Principal of Our Lady of the Way. Parks says she gave him a hundred and seventy dollars as a down payment on school uniforms.  And again, he returned for a hundred dollars more, claiming it was cover Customs costs. Elia Chi of the Evangelical Primary School, was third to take the stand. She paid a total of five hundred and seventy dollars for school badges. But none of the schools ever received their items or saw Acosta again.