Monrovia — A resident of West Point community, Varney Burphy, apologizes to Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gabriel Sarlee, for creating a fake Facebook account in his (Gabriel Sarlee's) name to dupe and solicit money from individuals, especially females.
The Liberian National Police arrested defendant Burphy in November and subsequently turned over to the Monrovia City Court, where he pleaded guilty to extortion.
However, he expressed regret and blamed his action on economic challenges and skyrocketing poverty in the country.
According to him, he created the purported account using the Minister's photos, names, and other information on a Facebook account. He requested females to send nude pictures and videos to him with the intent of extorting money from them.
"I want to apologize to Minister Gabriel Sarlee for using his name, information, and position to create a fake Facebook account to chat with females. The account that I created was fake, but I used it to chat with females by using relationships, and in the end, I can request their naked pictures and nude videos. My intent was just to get money from them. I don't mean this, but it's the devil's work. You know things are hard, the economy is not moving, and we have to survive," Defendant Varney justified.
He added that the account was recently created, but despite his intention, he was very mindful with his conversation, noting that only one female fell victim to his scam.
