Condo maintenance manager charged with stealing $35k

(CNS): Fernando Mota Mendes (55) briefly appeared in Grand Court on Friday but did not answer the more than dozen charges against him, including theft and obtaining property by deception. Mendes was bailed to return to court on 19 August, when he is expected to be arraigned on the allegations that he conned clients out of around CI$35,000 in a bookings scam. Mendes, the owner of a maintenance service company, was managing a number of condos in North Side but wasn’t supposed to take visitor bookings.

But according to the crown’s case, Mendes was both making bookings for the properties and taking cash payments from staycation guests during the COVID-19 lockdown, which he kept for himself. He is alleged to have cancelled or prevented access to renters who had booked through official channels and instead rented to people on the island who were giving him money directly.