A St James tour operator accused of defrauding an elderly shopkeeper of over $1 million has been granted $800,000 bail with surety by the Hanover Parish Court.

In granting bail, Senior Parish Judge Sheron Barnes ordered 42-year-old Garth Brown, who is of Sugar Mill Road, Ironshore address, to report daily to the Coral Gardens Police Station and to surrender his passport.

Brown, who is charged with two counts of fraudulent conversion, was ordered to return to court in September.

It is alleged that Brown told the elderly shopkeeper in Hanover that he could facilitate the purchase of a bus for him.  

The shopkeeper allegedly gave him over $1 million - first $500,000 and later $610,000 towards the purchase of the bus.

When Brown later returned for $60,000 to have the bus transported on a wrecker to the shopkeeper in rural Hanover, the elderly man became suspicious and called the police.

He was subsequently charged. 

Clerk of the Courts Jermaine Campbell informed the court that Brown's driver's licence had an Esher, Hanover address.

However, Brown's lawyer, Tamika Spencer-Anderson, insisted that he lived in Ironshore, Montego Bay.

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