Student bags Offa Poly Cybercrime receives one-year sentence

Olaleye Rosheed, a twenty-one-year-old student at the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, in Kwara State, was sentenced to a year in prison on Thursday for attempted cheating and internet fraud.

Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin handed down his sentence.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ilorin Zonal Command, prosecuted Olaleye on a single count charge.

“That you, Olaleye Rosheed (Christiana Lopez), pretended to be one Christiana Lopez, a white female with a gmail account christianalopez 105@gmail.com sometime in January, 2021 at Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code,” the charge sheet read.

When the charge was read to him in court, the defendant pleaded guilty.

Following his plea, the anti-graft agency’s Counsel, Sesan Ola, reviewed the facts of the case with an operative of the commission, who described how intelligence led to the defendant’s arrest on July 24,2021.

Several fraudulent messages printed from Olaleye’s email, including the iPhone recovered from him at the point of arrest, were tendered and admitted in evidence, according to the witness.

“I have carefully considered the facts and circumstances of this case, particularly the lone count charge, the defendant’s plea of guilt, his extrajudicial statements, and the prosecution witness’s unchallenged testimony,” Justice Oyinloye said in his decision.

“In the opinion of this honorable court, the prosecution has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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The trial judge declared, “This court finds the defendant guilty of the allegation leveled against him and he is hereby convicted.”

After hearing the defense attorney’s plea, Justice Oyinloye sentenced Olaleye to one year in prison with the option of a N200,000 fine.

The iPhone he was found with was also forfeited to the government.