Man bags two-year jail term for impersonating US soldier

The Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday, November 20, secured the conviction and sentencing of one Jesse Kassah, (alias Devaun Smith Wayne).

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

Kassah was found guilty of impersonating a US military man and ticket salesman on Facebook to one Caitlin Morgan.

According to investigations, Kassah used his identity to defraud his victims in the process.

 

He was jailed by Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court, Kaduna, after pleading guilty to a one-count bordering on impersonation upon being arraigned by the state’s EFCC command.

This was disclosed via the handle of the anti-graft agency in a late Monday tweet on X (formerly Twitter).

The statement read, “That you, Jesse Joshua Kassah (a.k.a Devaun Smith Wayne), (M) between January to October 2023 at Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, committed an offence, to wit; falsely presented yourself as Devaun Smith Wayne; a USA military personnel and ticket salesman on Facebook (an online social media application) to one Caitlin Morgan and which pretense you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 142(1) of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017”.

He pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him.

Given his plea, prosecution counsel, M. Arumemi, urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.

The judge “convicted and sentenced Kassah to two years imprisonment with an option of N150,000.00 fine.

The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the Samsung Galaxy A02 phone which was used to commit the offence to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The statement added, “Kassah’s journey to the Correctional Centre started when he was arrested in the Karji area of Kaduna for internet-related offences.”