MOCA SECURES MORE VICTORIES IN THE COURTS

The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) continues to secure important victories in the courts, with recent outcomes in a major corruption matter and a firearms case underscoring the agency’s sustained focus on accountability, public safety and the rule of law.

In one matter, Gwendolyn Ward, a senior accounting clerk attached to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), was found guilty on multiple counts of Falsification of Accounts, Forgery and Embezzlement when the case was heard in the St Andrew Parish Court on Friday, March 13, 2026. The matter arose from a MOCA investigation launched in 2015 following a report from the JCF Finance Branch into a fraudulent allowance scheme involving JCF personnel. Investigators established that at least four police officers improperly received allowances totalling more than JMD $4.5 million, with Ward having falsified official records and forged colleagues’ signatures to facilitate the unlawful payments. She was convicted by His Honour Mr Chester Crooks and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 10, 2026.

In a separate matter, Garrick Lewis, a 25-year-old former Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier of Lower Mall Road, Kingston 11, was sentenced in the Supreme Court Gun Court Division on Friday, March 13, 2026, for breaches of the Firearms Act. Lewis had been arrested after MOCA executed a search and seizure warrant at his residence in November 2024 in connection with an ongoing cybercrime investigation. During the operation, law enforcement officers found fifteen 5.56 cartridges and five .38 cartridges on the premises. He was subsequently charged with Unauthorised Possession of Ammunition and Dealing in Prohibited Weapons. On sentencing, His Lordship Justice Mr Vaughn Smith imposed fifteen years’ imprisonment for Unauthorised Possession of Ammunition and twenty years’ imprisonment for Dealing in Prohibited Weapons, with the sentences to run concurrently.

“These matters reflect the breadth of MOCA’s work across corruption, major financial crimes, firearms offences and wider organised criminal activity”, said Major Basil Jarrett, Director of Communications at MOCA. “But they also highlight the strength of the cases which we put before the courts, and the high conviction rate which we enjoy.”