Police seek second counterfeit and skimming suspect
POSTED: 07/12/12 11:35 AMSt. Maarten – Police have announced that 35 year old J.J.M of the Dominican Republic was the man they arrested and detained on Tuesday afternoon. Police Spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson was only able to say the man was Spanish speaking on the day of the arrest.
Police patrols became interested in the rented black Wrangler Jeep because M. and another man were driving in because the Central Dispatch was informed that the duo had a “considerable amount” of counterfeit American currency and that they were carrying a skimming device, which are used to illegally withdraw money from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
Officers got their first tip about the two men around 12:10 p.m. and patrol officers were told to look out for their car. A Zero Tolerance patrol spotted the vehicle at the Francis Bar on A Th. Illidge Road at 12:15 p.m. When they approached it with the intention of carrying a control the driver quickly reversed and sped away in the direction of the Cottage round-a-bout. The patrol officers gave chase and noticed that people were forced to jump out of the way of suspects.
The chase continued onto the A. Th. Illidge and the suspects sped through a red light at the traffic lights on the Prins Bernard Bridge and continued to flee on the Long wall road. The patrol radioed to the central assistance to update them on the situation and to request backup as the chase continued via Long Wall road, Onasha Jones Street, Kerkhof Steeg and on to Little Bay road where the driver struck a blue jeep that was parked on the side of the road and a pedestrian who received only minor injuries that were treated by paramedics at the scene.
The crash was not enough to stop the fleeing suspects. They chose to speed on to Fort Willem road where the driver lost control and the vehicle got stuck in a ditch. The driver jumped out of the car and was able to evade officers by running into the bushes but M. was caught and has now been handed over to the Detective Department as part of the ongoing investigation.
