Elderly men being investigated for making false police report

The police may soon be levying criminal charges against two elderly men from Belmopan City for falsely claiming they were robbed of a quarter million dollars by three men, two of whom they claimed were police officers. Last week, eighty-year-old Candido Martinez and his brother, Sergio Perez spoke to local media and claimed they were victims of a home invasion. The brothers alleged that in October 2022, a group of men barged into their residence in the Maya Mopan area, held them up, tied them up, and stole two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that was in a duffle bag. The incident had several holes in the story as Love News found out. Our newsroom was able to establish that the two men who made the report have some sort of long-standing feud with the men they are accusing. One of the accused men also reached out to our Newsroom and stated that at the time of the supposed incident, he was on his way to Belize from El Salvador. And, according to Police Press Officer, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, the investigation suggests that the report is fake. 

ASP. Fitzroy Yearwood, Public Relations, Belize Police Department: “I know that the Professional Standards Branch have launched an investigation into that allegation and I want to advise the public that in the event these allegations are found to be untrue or of mischief these persons that made those allegations against the police officers will face criminal charges because a lot of people make allegations against officers for various reasons sometimes only out of spite but we at the Police Department have to take each report seriously and we have our investigators do their part and when these officers were found guilty I am certain that you hear and the general public hear that we charge our officers on a daily basis and the Commissioner of Police has a zero tolerance the policy when it comes to police allegations made against the police and if these police officers are guilty of the crimes that they are alleged to be committed. And if we charge them when they are found guilty of it then we must charge you also when you make a false report against our officers. 

Reporter:  At this point as the investigation leading into into saying that the allegation was indeed false? 

ASP. Fitzroy Yearwood, Public Relations, Belize Police Department: “Well like I said I haven’t received a formal report from the Professional Standards Branch but after two weeks of investigation it would want to suggest that these things cannot be proven that was alleged.”