Mikhail Rodrigues, the man who went viral on social media after breaking off a parking clamp from his vehicle with a sledgehammer, appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Friday, charged with fraudulent conversion.

Rodrigues, 36, of Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan and pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on August 11, 2015, at Georgetown, he converted motor van GJJ 4976 to his own use.

The $2.2M van was entrusted to him by Raghubeer Paul. Rodrigues, who is a businessman on Regent Street, Georgetown and a father of three, was granted $200,000 bail. He is slated to return to court on April 7, 2017.

Rodrigues became famous on social media as the ‘sledgehammer guy’ when he was captured on video breaking off a parking clamp from his vehicle with a sledgehammer.

His activism is widely known with the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM), which held several protests in the city for the contract to be scrapped.