Molson Romie was going to plead guilty to altering cheques, but claimed otherwise at court appearance.

Defence lawyer Jay Bran stated that there must have been a miscommunication with his client, Molson Romie, as he believed his client had previously agreed to plead guilty. Romie, did not plead guilty in territorial court on Monday. He says Romie is now asking for translation services, but didn’t specify for which language.

Romie is facing charges for allegedly forging cheques that deposited money from the North Slave Correctional Complex’s (NSCC) Inmate Trust Fund from December 2019 to February 2020 into various bank accounts. 

The hearing begun by the Crown prosecutor Madison Walls listed the charges Romie was facing. The charges included altering several cheques issued to an associate of Romie by the NSCC’s Inmate Trust Fund, and depositing them into two other associate’s bank accounts. 

When Romie was asked how he would be pleading, he stood and responded that he was only responsible for bringing the cheques to his associates. 

He said he never forged the cheques or deposited them himself.  Subsequently, Bran then called for another adjournment to speak with Romie. 

When they returned, Bran expressed to the court his client could no longer plead guilty as he did not admit to the charges. 

Romie is scheduled to appear in territorial criminal court again on Dec. 13, where an application will be made to withdraw the plea deal. 

The RCMP press release stated that Romie was one of four people facing fraud charges for allegedly depositing $23,407.92 into various bank accounts in a series of 36 altered cheques.

This article was originally sourced by www.cbc.ca