A 39-year-old internet fraudster, Abada Bourdillion, was on Wednesday sentenced to three months imprisonment having been found guilty of criminal impersonation.
Bourdillon and his partners-in-crime were arrested on April 26, 2019, when operatives from the Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, carried out a raid on their hideout at Quadri Ayodele Close, Liberty Estate, Laderin, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
His arrest followed an intelligence report detailing their criminal activities and they were subsequently arraigned by the anti-graft agency on May 14, before Justice Mohammed Abubakar, of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta on a two-count charge bordering on criminal impersonation and possession of fake documents with the intention to defraud.
The convict who had earlier pleaded not guilty to the initial charge approached the Commission for a plea bargain.
Due to the agreement on the terms of the plea bargain, the EFCC re-arraigned him on Wednesday on a one-count charge of criminal impersonation.
He pleaded guilty to the latter charge as presented to the Court by the Prosecution Counsel, Shamsudeen Bashir.
Bourdillon, however, found favour before the presiding judge who slammed him with three months instead of the five months proposed in the document before the court.
The scaled-down term was informed by the plea by his lawyer, Olawale Orojo, who begged the court to temper justice with mercy, arguing that his client’s wife was delivered of a baby while the husband was still in custody, under investigation.
The court ordered that the convict restitute the sum of USD $1000 (One Thousand United States of American Dollars) to one of his victims, and also forfeit his Black IPhone 7, Black HP Laptop and charger to the Federal Government of Nigeria, being part of the benefit he derived from his fraudulent acts.
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