A 27-year-old former employee of state-owned commercial bank First Citizens on bail for allegedly defrauding her employer of almost $3 million, yesterday was slapped with an additional 160 charges. Rhea LaRoache, a customer relations officer, of Western Main Road, Carenage, was not called on to plea to the indictable charges when she appeared before magistrate Christine Charles in the Port-of-Spain First Court yesterday afternoon.
Charles took one hour to read the charges to LaRoache, who stood silently in the prisoner dock, while her relatives sat behind her in the public gallery. In half of the charges, LaRoache was accused of stealing various sums of money from the bank in tranches, ranging from $5,000 to $473,000. Those charges were laid under Section 18.1 of the Larceny Act. She is also accused of falsifying accounts in the bank under the Criminal Offences Act.
Both sets of offences allegedly occurred at the bank’s Diego Martin branch between January 2012 and last March. LaRoache initially appeared before Charles on November 11 and was charged with 251 similar charges related to $3 million allegedly stolen from the bank. Those offences are alleged to have taken place between August last year and last September. The additional charges bring the total sum she is accused of defrauding the bank to $4.8 million. The charges were laid by Cpl Vinelle Bassarath.
After reading the charges, Charles approved the $1.2 million bail that LaRoache’s had been granted by a Justice of the Peace when the charges were laid at the Fraud Squad’s Port-of-Spain Office on Wednesday evening. She was also granted the same bail when she was slapped with the first batch of charges. Before adjourning the case Charles reminded LaRoache of her bail condition of reporting to the Fraud Squad every Thursday. She also has surrendered her passport.
LaRoache, who is being represented by Ian Brooks, will reappear in court on February 5.