🚨 Serial scammer sentenced to almost 7 years in prison

Judith Douglas, a 58-year-old woman from George Town, has been sentenced to six years and eight months in jail for obtaining property by deception. This marks her third conviction for scamming, with over 40 people conned out of approximately $2 million since 2015. Douglas pleaded guilty to 32 charges, attributing her serial offending to a "pernicious gambling addiction". In her latest scam, she swindled over $52,000 from dozens of individuals by taking rental deposits for a property that was not hers to rent out. 🏠

Douglas started scamming her victims less than six months after her conditional release from prison, where she was serving time for stealing $1.85 million from a single victim. The victim believed that Douglas was assisting him in obtaining permanent residency and a Caymanian passport. This crime was committed shortly after her release from jail for a previous scam involving around two dozen victims. Despite the severity of her crimes, the judge took Douglas's admission about her gambling problem into account during sentencing, stating it was a "positive and encouraging first step". The judge also emphasized the need for Douglas to receive rehabilitation for her gambling problem while in prison. 🎰

However, the judge also highlighted the aggravating factors in Douglas's case, such as committing the crime while on conditional release and targeting vulnerable individuals. The loss of money had severe impacts on the victims and their families who relied on their remittances. Justice Richards stated that Douglas "must have been aware of the cruel impact of her actions" and noted her "wanton disregard for others and a focus on self". The final jail term handed down was 80 months, with time served to be taken into account. The court is prepared to hear arguments about recovering some of the stolen money, although Douglas claims most of it was spent on gambling. 🚔