Belize District - Greater Belize Media

BREAKING: General Legal Council Finds Orson Elrington “Guilty of Grave Professional Misconduct”

In a decision dated April 19th, the General Legal Council found attorney Orson “OJ” Elrington of “grave professional misconduct” and in breach of rules 4, 14, and 22, which constitutes grave misconduct. Elrington is being summoned by the Council to a hearing on May 24th to show cause why any of the sanctions set out in the Legal Profession Act should not be imposed on him.

Under that particular section, the Council may recommend to the Chief Justice:

(a) the removal of the attorney’s name from the Roll;

(b) the removal of the attorney from practice on such conditions as the Council may determine;

(d) subjecting the attorney to a reprimand;

(e) the payment by any party of costs or of such sum as the Council may consider a reasonable contribution towards cost;

(f) the payment by the attorney of any such sum by way of restitution as the Council may consider reasonable.

News Five has reached out to Elrington for comment.

Pastor Dozie brought a complaint against Elrington, alleging that Elrington settled a claim without his consent. Dozie claimed he only signed one engagement letter, while Elrington asserted that two were signed, altering the terms of their agreement.

Dozie provided evidence of his position, including original documents and WhatsApp conversations. Elrington failed to produce original engagement letters despite multiple directives to do so. The Council found discrepancies in Elrington’s testimony and noted concerns regarding his reliance on a paralegal to handle client communication and legal matters.

Ultimately, the Council concluded that Elrington breached professional rules and referred the case to the police for further investigation into the authenticity of the disputed engagement letter. This finding highlighted the seriousness of Elrington’s actions and raised questions about his credibility and conduct as an attorney.

In 2023, Dozie retained Elrington as his attorney to file a claim against the Social Security Board which had denied Dozie’s application for survivor’s grant following the passing of his wife in 2021. SSB told Dozie the Social Security (Benefits) Regulations did not make provision for widowers to claim the survivor’s grant that is payable to a widow on the death of a husband. Elrington commenced action against the SSB and the Attorney General. A percentage of any sums recovered to be paid to Elrington was agreed. The percentage agreed is in dispute. “The dispute arises due to Mr Elrington’s assertion that there was a second engagement letter.”

Following negotiations, Elrington collected the settlement sum of $46,588. “He continues to possess that said sum, and has not paid any portion any portion thereof to Pastor Dozie.” (This is at the date of the decision)

In his defence, Elrington claimed that Dozie did not provide him with a bank account to transfer the money.

In December 2023, Dozie emailed Elrington, demanding all funds received from the SBB, including the initial retainer of $1,500. The sums were not paid to Dozie at the time of this decision. Dozie also confirmed that he did not provide Elrington with banking details.

Dozie says he did not approve the settlement terms. Elrington told the Council that he orally explained the settlement terms to Dozie in September 2023.

According to Dozie, he signed one engagement letter on May 17, 2023, where he agreed to pay Elrington a retainer fee of $3,000. It was also agreed that Elrington was to be paid a contingency fee of 15% of the sums collected. Elrington says that Dozie signed a second “redrafted” retainer on the same day. According to Elrington, Dozie paid him $1,500 down and agreed to pay 40% of the sums collected. Dozie said that he paid Elrington $1,500 and the remaining amount would be collected from any funds received. Elrington was unable to provide the Council with the original engagement letters with the wet ink signatures.

“A perusal of the documents by the members of the Council indicates that the scanned copy of the signature of Pastor Dozie on the second engagement letter (denied y Pastor Dozie) is blue, whilst the first one is black, and the signature on the second engagement letter appears to be identical in size and shape, including the points where the signature intersects the alphabetical letters at the bottom of the signature line, that spell out his name. Exactness in two signatures of the same person to such a degree are not usually found and tends more to the probability that the latter signature is a copy made by scanning or copying by machine.”

Joseph Camp Begs GG for Pardon, Says He was Unlawfully Detained

US citizen Joseph Camp, 39, has written to Belize’s Governor General Dame Froyla Tzalam, asking for a pardon. Earlier this month, Camp spread false news during a shooting incident in Belize City. He was arraigned in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court where he pleaded guilty and was fined six hundred Belize dollars.

In the letter to the GG, Camp says, “I am writing pursuant to Section 52 et seq of the Belize Constitution 1, to respectfully request a pardon for the offense of Spreading False News.”

According to Camp, the information he shared during his Facebook live video was provided by a Belize police detective. He says, “I acknowledge the gravity of the offense and have accepted full responsibility for my actions. However, I wish to provide further context to my case. The charge stemmed from information that was provided to me by a Belize Police Detective…”

According to Camp, “upon becoming aware that the information may not contain complete facts, I took immediate steps to rectify the situation by attempting to remove the content.” The content remains on his Facebook account.

Camp says he has also written an official letter to the United States State Department and U.S. Embassy in Belize. In that letter, he says that he was unlawfully detained.

*Joseph Camp writes to U.S. authorities, claiming he was unlawfully detained.*

Teens Caught with Illegal Substances and Firearms

Two young men were arrested and charged with two counts of possession of controlled drugs, kept prohibited firearm and kept ammunition without a gun license. They are nineteen-year-old Phillip Ku and nineteen-year-old Zaldon Thompson.

According to police, a search was conducted at Ku’s residence in Esperanza Village, Cayo. The police found 15 grammes of cannabis and seven pieces of crack cocaine. An improvised shotgun was also found, along with ammunition.

Police Commissioner: “What is being advertised here is tantamount to prostitution.”

A flyer making its rounds on social media has caught the attention of Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams. The party invites people to an “adult” party with an entrance fee of $1,500.

This morning, Williams said, “What is being advertised here is tantamount to prostitution, which is still illegal in our law books.”

Williams encourages all potential attendees “not to participate in this illegal and moral act.” He says that the department will be doing “all we can to find out where this event will be held and to hold those responsible accountable.”

When this newsroom contacted the number on the flyer, the person who answered said she had no idea about the flyer and inquired where the flyer was posted. She sounded distraught that her number was being used.

It is believe that the flyer was a prank.

Alleged PIV Gang Members Behind Bars!

Three alleged members of the notorious gang PIV were arrested and remanded to jail after being found in possession of a gun, ammunition, and significant quantities of marijuana and cocaine on Saint George’s Caye. The accused, including alleged PIV co-leader Edwin Flowers, were brought before a Senior Magistrate and faced multiple charges, including firearm possession and drug-related offenses. Despite pleading not guilty, they were denied bail due to the seriousness of the charges.

Full details on News 5 Live tonight at six o’clock.

Police Make Huge Gun and Drug Bust on Island Off Belize City Coast

A police operation on an island off the coast of Belize City yielded several high-powered rifles and a large quantity of drugs. On Tuesday, a team of police officers visited the island in search of individuals from the Lake Independence area who are wanted under the state of emergency. Not only were they able to locate three known gang members, but the officers also discovered five weapons, including two high-powered rifles and three handguns. They also unearthed twenty-six pounds of cannabis and five pounds of suspected cocaine. The island is believed to be used by members of the gang as a depot for their drug shipments and guns. It is a major bust for the Belize Police Department, as it seeks to crack down on the spate of gun violence in Belize City, even under a state of emergency. The guns are now being prepared for testing to determine whether they are linked to any crimes. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, spoke with reporters this evening at the Racoon Street Police Station. He told us more.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Yesterday, police visited an island just off the shore of Belize City where searches were conducted and the search led to the discovery of twelve thousand grams of cannabis, parceled off in a few parcels and two thousand three hundred grams of cocaine that were in two separate kilo size parcels and one two, two, three rifle on the island, police also found three individuals from the PIV area. Those persons and the drugs and firearm were brought to Belize City for processing and the three individuals have since been arrested and charged for drug trafficking and keeping unlicensed firearm. We believe the island is used as a store house for the PIV gang members. When they get their shipment of drugs it would be taken to the island and then they would bring from the island to the city in small quantities. We went and conducted searches on two other islands where we believe the PIV has some connections to and on one of those islands, we found one M4 carbine rifle, one assault five-point seven caliber rifle, one twenty-two rifle, one point forty caliber handgun and one nine-millimeter handgun. Five firearms were found, three of which are rifles and two handguns. No one was on that island so those items will be deposited as found property. Police continue to do a number of searches in areas we believe PIV gangs, or any other gangs would have some connection to with a view to unearth their tools of trade as well as to see if we can find some of them who are still wanted under the SOE.”

Three Men Arrested and Charged in Relation to Major Drug and Gun Bust

As we said, three persons were found on an island off the coast of Belize City where police discovered drugs and guns on Tuesday. They are forty-one-year-old Edwin “Drive” Flowers, thirty-two-year-old Kenyon Dominquez and twenty-five-year-old Gaston Barrow. Flowers is no stranger to the law. He is said to be a former gang leader. Several attempts have also been made on his life. And, he has also been to court on charges of robbery and murder. Flowers was recently employed by the Leadership Intervention Unit. ComPol Williams was asked if the LIU is shielding known gang figures. Here is how he responded.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“The LIU is vehicle that we are using to see how we can change the minds and hearts of these street figures. I can see where in some instances it is working. The LIU is not a shield for anybody and so I don’t want no one to believe that because a particular person is a member of LIU or works with LIU that they are immune from criminal liability or from the police going to their homes and search. I have always said that once police get information of anybody of crime or anything illegal the police is going to do what needs to be done regardless of who that person is. So “Drive” works closely with LIU. He is a person in the program, and we have tried our best to work with him and it goes back to what I have said. We police with a double-edged sword. We offer the dull side to the persons who want to change but once they start to perpetuate criminal acts, we have to use the sharp side of the sword and cut them off it is as simple as that.”

Police Say Video Shows Murder Victim, Michael Usher was With Female

On Monday night, Michael Usher was shot dead on Flamboyant Street in Belize City. It was a murder that had all the makings of a gang-related incident. Today, Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told the media that Usher, who lived in Pinks Alley, had accompanied a woman to the area and that the department will release video evidence to determine the identity of the woman he was with, should a need arise.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“When I was notified of it I asked the same question to myself. What was he doing in P.I.V area, for the simple fact that we know that P.I.V and Majestic Alley do not see eye to eye and there is that issue between them. Again, from all indications, we know that he was lured to the area by a woman. We do have the video footage of him leaving Majestic Alley with that woman. We are still trying to identify who that woman is. We have the video. I might eventually release to the public to help us to identify who she is but we need to identify that woman to see what she can give the police in terms of why she took him to the P.I.V area. But again, I’m not going to say that it’s an act of jealousy but rather I believe that it is more a gang issue because he is from Majestic Alley. He was in the P.I.V area. The two do not see eye to eye, why they do have conflict with each other.”

Police Commissioner Says Extension of S.O.E. Would Help

The state of emergency that came into effect three weeks ago, has resulted in the rounding up of quite a few Belize City residents who police say are active gang members involved in criminality. But since the S.O.E. was implemented, there have been several murders and shootings. And some say the S.O.E. has been ineffective in what it was designed to accomplish. Today Commissioner Williams told the media that he is of a different view and that an extension of the state of emergency would help.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

”The areas that we had targeted for the SOE, which was the extension area and Roaring Creek, and a part of Camalote, since the SOE, we have had no murders in those areas, and those were the two main areas that we had targeted for the SOE. It just so happened that we contemplated to have included other areas of South side Belize City, in the event that they would have acted out during that period of the SOE. And it happened that P.I.V began acting out within that period, and so they are now included in it going forward. And yes, if there’s an extension, then it is going to help us to be able to look more at the P.I.V gang and any other gang that may that we have seen developing that tendency of wanting to go out and commit any violent act against anybody.”

Mayor Says City Administrator Fiasco is “Much ado about nothing”

There is discontent within the Belize City Council in the wake of a recent decision taken by Mayor Bernard Wagner to appoint former councilor Albert Vaughn as the new city administrator. As many as six councilors, including Deputy Mayor Alan Pollard Jr., have written to Mayor Wagner objecting to Vaughn’s selection as the incoming municipal manager. Their reason for opposing the appointment is based on the requirements for the post. They contend that beyond his six-year tenure as a councilor and his past experience as a member of the Belize Defense Force, Vaughn has nothing to show that he is capable of handling such an important role at City Hall. According to Mayor Wagner, who spoke with News Five one-on-one this morning, the discord is much ado about nothing.

Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor

“A lot made out of nothing. I essentially acted on the recommendations of the interviewing committee and I did that action and then I anticipated that I would take it to the caucus for ratification. The ratification purpose really serves to approve the action that I did, and so we are really looking forward to get this passed. I am anticipating full support from my council.”

Isani Cayetano

“This is a situation, however, where as many as six councilors have objected to this particular appointment, citing concerns about the qualifications of Mr. Vaughn to handle such a portfolio.”

Bernard Wagner

“Well, I think the new CA [city administrator] really has, based on the interview that he did, really reassured the residents of the city that he has all the competency level. So how do you measure competency level? Does he have the knowledge? Does he have the skill? But more importantly, does he have the value system and the integrity? And I believe that [Albert] Vaughn passed all of those marks.”

Isani Cayetano

“The idea, nonetheless, of there being some form of democracy or transparency in respect of the decision-making process and the fact that these six councilors are saying, essentially, [they] the form the majority and their position isn’t being acknowledged.”

Bernard Wagner

“Their position is acknowledged. They have their forum at the caucus where we debate the issues. I will bring the action that I did for their ratification. Ratification simply means that you go through the vetting, you debate the merits of it and then, in a gentleman’s way, you get these things done.”