WHY ELLINGTON RETIRED SUDDENLY–MORE DETAILS TO COME

DI BIG QUESTION

Acting Corporal Errol Richards, also called ‘Schoolboy Richie’, was a well know Police who were feared by the criminals in downtown Kingston. He (Schoolboy Richie) was known to kill thugs without hesitation. Question: How did he get a visa or permanent stay in the USA with a Jamaican criminal record?

A Jamaican policeman who was kicked out of the force after being convicted of fraud is now before the courts in the United States on drug charges.
Errol Cliff Richards, who once ruled the streets of downtown Kingston under the moniker ‘Schoolboy Richie’, is now facing the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics and attempt/conspiracy for narcotics importation/exportation.
Court documents obtained by The Gleaner show that a sealed indictment was entered into the court on March 20 of this year.
The indictment was unsealed on June 19 when Schoolboy Richie and his co-defendant, Ronald Mohammed Noeranie Badloe, waived pretrial report proceedings.
On June 23, the court gave the prosecutors until July 14 to complete discovery and set September 2 as the date for a pretrial conference.
According to the indictment, from at least 2012, in Colombia and elsewhere, Schoolboy Richie, Mohammed and “others known and unknown intentionally and knowingly did combine, conspire, confederate and agree together and with each other to violate the narcotics laws of the United States”.
It is further alleged that on or about October 25, 2013, Badloe attended a meeting in Bogota, Colombia, where he and others discussed the transportation of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to the US, with a portion of the cocaine to be shipped to Canada.
The prosecutors further charge that in January, Schoolboy Richie and Badloe attended a meeting in Trinidad where they discussed the transportation of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico to the US with a portion of the cocaine to be shipped to Canada.
According to court documents, on or about February 14, a conspirator, not named as a defendant, delivered approximately US$109,900 to another individual in New York as payment for approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine.
EYES ON ASSETS
The prosecutors have also asked the court to allow the forfeiture of all property the two accused may have acquired from their drug deals.
Schoolboy Richie had faced the local court system in 1996 when he, his girlfriend Janice Bernard and then Superintendent of Police Owen Ellington were arrested on a charge to defraud an insurance company of $450,000.
Ellington was freed on a no-case submission at the end of the Crown’s case on September 10, 1998, while Richards and Bernard were convicted of defrauding the insurance company. They were each sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, which they served after they lost their appeals in June 2001.
Ellington sued the Government to recover damages for alleged malicious prosecution.
He contended at the time that the arresting officer, acting in the course of his employment, maliciously and without reasonable and probable cause laid the information against him.
He argued that the arresting officer ignored the fact that there was no evidence implicating him in any conspiracy to defraud the insurance company, and when he was charged, it was patently clear that he had invested his legal and beneficial interest in the car at the centre of the controversy from about April 1995.
The attorney general contested the lawsuit on the grounds that the prosecution was not malicious and contended there was reasonable and probable cause to effect the arrest and that the then director of public prosecutions had ruled that Ellington, Richards and Bernard should be charged.
Ellington was not successful in the lawsuit but, having been freed of the criminal charge in the earlier case, his meteoric rise in the force continued, culminating in his appointment to the job of top cop in 2010.
Last week, the national security ministry announced Ellington’s retirement – citing his desire to separate himself from the force ahead of the upcoming commission of enquiry into the deadly 2010 operation in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston as well as to allow the Independent Commission of Investigations freedom to probe allegations of death squads within the force – signalling the end of that tenure.
[email protected]

2004 ARTICLE

SSP Ellington sues Gov’t – Aftermath of car fraud charge in 1996
published: Monday | February 16, 2004
By Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
OWEN ELLINGTON, Senior Superintendent of Police, is suing the Government to recover damages for alleged malicious prosecution following his arrest in 1996 on a charge of conspiracy to defraud an insurance company of $450,000 in relation to a motor car.
Ellington is contending that on December 12, 1996, Assistant Commissioner of Police Osbourne Dyer (now retired), acting in the course of his employment, maliciously and without reasonable and probable cause laid the information against him. As a result, Ellington said, he was charged jointly with Acting Corporal Errol Richards, also called ‘Schoolboy Richie’, and Janice Bernard, Richards’s girlfriend, with conspiracy to defraud Jamaica General Insurance Co. Ltd.
He was freed on a no-case submission at the end of the Crown’s case on September 10, 1998. He contends that ACP Dyer ignored the fact that there was no evidence implicating him in any conspiracy to defraud the insurance company, of 5 Duke Street, Kingston. He said that when he was charged, it was patently clear that he had invested his legal and beneficial interest in the car from about April 1995 and was provided with valuable consideration by Janice Bernard. In exchange, he delivered to Bernard, the certificate of title and other documents relating to the car. He said that Dyer ignored the fact that at the material time, he had no insurable interest in the car and Bernard was the sole owner.
SSP Ellington is seeking damages against the Attorney-General and Dyer on the grounds that he suffered financial loss in providing legal representation. He was suspended from duty pending the trial. He said he suffered mental anguish, his reputation was seriously tarnished, and as a result, he suffered loss and damages.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL CONTESTING
The Attorney-General is contesting the lawsuit on the grounds that the prosecution was not malicious and contends that there was reasonable and probable cause to effect the arrest.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had ruled that Ellington, Richards and Bernard should be charged.
Richards, and Bernard, 34, then a loans officer with the Jamaica Defence Force Credit Union, were convicted in 1998 of defrauding the insurance company. They were each sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, which they served after they lost their appeals in June 2001.
Evidence was given at the trial that Ellington purchased a 1992 Toyota Corolla motor car and lent it to Richards, who reported to the police on August 24, 1995 that the car, along with a firearm and other items, was stolen from his house in Mount View, St. Catherine. The insurance policy had expired on August 23, 1995 and Richards, after reporting the car stolen, went to the offices of Jamaica General Insurance Company and renewed the policy to expire August 23, 1996.
On January 15, 1996 Richards went to the insurance company and requested that the policy, which was in the names of Janice Bernard and Owen Ellington, be transferred to Bernard’s name alone. Bernard made a report at the National Stadium police station in Kingston in April 1996 that the said car was stolen while she was at a football match. Bernard reported the theft to the insurance company and a cheque for $450,000 was prepared for payment to her. Payment was delayed pending the production of the original title, which should have been endorsed to the effect that the vehicle was stolen.
Richards went to the insurance company in May 1996 with a new certificate of title for the car which was reported stolen. The title lacked certain endorsements and Richards left with the document, saying he would seek to rectify the defects pointed out to him. After Richards left the police were called in and investigations led to their arrests.
When Col. Trevor MacMillan became Commissioner of Police on September 1, 1993 Ellington was assigned to him as his aide-de-camp to socialise him into the workings and culture of the Jamaica Constabulary. His friends say that SSP Ellington, now 41, should be seen as candidate for Commissioner of Police if he continues on his career path.