Woman tries cockroach scam at city restaurants

Jan 05, 2011 News

The woman being led out of the Mei Tung Restaurant by a police officer

…demands money and gets arrested

A woman who identified herself as Melissa is currently in police custody after she attempted to fleece the Mei Tung Restaurant which is located above the Buddy’s Pool Hall on Sheriff Street yesterday.
On Monday evening, the manager of New Thriving Restaurant, John, called Kaieteur News to enquire if the newspaper had one Faye as an employee and that she had promised to cause to be published a report that he had served her a meal that contained a cockroach.
He said that the woman was demanding $100,000 to settle the matter. He said that he was prepared to give her $15,000 but she was insistent that she be paid $100,000.
When Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall sent a staff member to New Thriving to confront the woman, the woman told the staff member that she was an employee. When asked in which department, the woman replied, “Is that relevant?”
Immediately the Kaieteur News staff member ordered that New Thriving call the police. John declined to pay and the woman walked out of the restaurant but vowed to take the matter further.
John said that she even complained to President Bharrat Jagdeo – who had just entered the restaurant – in John’s presence. The woman had already eaten a meal for which the restaurant declined to accept payment.
Yesterday, when the woman was taken into custody she burst into tears. She had attempted the same scam at the Mei Tung restaurant.
This time she claimed that she had bought a meal the night before and had contracted diarrhea. Staff members there reported serving the woman shortly before midnight.
The woman returned yesterday and demanded that she see the owner of the establishment, Omprakash ‘Buddy’ Shivraj, who said that he told his staff to give her $5,000 but the woman insisted that she wanted $25,000.She subsequently upped the ante and asked for $50,000 and then $100,000. Again she claimed that she was an employee of Kaieteur News. Shivraj called Glenn Lall and the bubble burst.
Shivraj learnt from Lall that the woman had tried the same thing at New Thriving and it was at this point in time that the police was called in.
But the woman did not quit her bluster. She threatened the photographer with legal action if he caused her photograph to appear in the newspapers.