A 29-year-old man, Ryan Wheeler, was sentenced to three years’ direct imprisonment without the option of bail in the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court last week on a count of fraud and theft.
In terms of Act 60 of the Firearms Control Act of 2000, Wheeler was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Police spokesman for Ermelo, Capt Carla Prinsloo, said the sentencing comes after Wheeler had booked into a local guesthouse and disappeared after a few days without paying the bill.
He had run up a bill at the bar as well as for food and accommodation
According to evidence given by witnesses, Wheeler spun an intricate web of despair, saying that his car had broken down and was at a local motor dealer for repairs.
It was subsequently discovered that no vehicle was at the motor dealer.
He convinced the guesthouse management that his “employer” would settle the bill and even smooth-talked them into advancing him an amount of cash.
Wheeler then requested the guesthouse manager to drop him off at the Ermelo Provincial Hospital to visit “a friend” who had supposedly been admitted. He failed to return to the guesthouse.
CVs of persons whom he had promised jobs at a mine were found in the room he had stayed in.
Unconfirmed reports have it that Wheeler had also skipped paying the bill at guesthouses in Carolina, Piet Retief and Paulpietersburg.
Also read: Robber shot dead in armed robbery
Also read: Community helps to catch a thief
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