MICHAEL Rover, 26, of Lot 459 Bulletwood Street, Mackenzie, Linden, was yesterday remanded to prison on two charges of simple larceny.

He appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson and pleaded not guilty but was refused bail after Police Inspector Stephen Telford described him as a known confidence trickster.

The Prosecutor said the defendant would usually take advantage of women. According to him, Rover suffers from a sickness and would persuade women to go with him, then take away their belongings and leave them.

One of the charges against Rover said, last November 17, he stole a gold anklet and a pair of gold earrings, valued a total of $276,000, property of Desiree Singh.

The other charge said, on November 16, Rover stole one cellular phone and three gold rings worth $250,000 from Fiona Harvey.

The defendant denied both allegations and claimed Harvey gave him the jewels to show someone else.

However, Harvey, who was in Court, said she met the defendant on the road and he asked her to borrow $16,000, telling her he is from New York and needs the money to do something important.

The woman said she gave Rover the cash but he returned later and requested her rings from which to take a pattern and she complied with the request.

She found out, subsequently, that the defendant, who promised to take her to the United States (U.S.), is a ‘con man’ and reported him to the Police, she said.

The cases will be called again on January 5.

Steve Skeete, 28, of Lot 17 Broad Street, Charlestown, Georgetown was also denied bail in the same Court, on a similar charge.

He, too, pleaded not guilty. The allegation he faced said he stole a $60,000 gold chain from June Anna Kirton, on December 17.

The woman said she was seated as a passenger in the back seat of a bus when the defendant pushed his hand through a window and snatched her jewel but he was apprehended by a policeman after she raised an alarm and the chain was retrieved from Skeete’s person.
He has to be back in Court on January 6.