Serial conman convicted again…for swindling 200 people out of $7M

A serial conman who swindled more than 200 people out of over $7 million by promising them overseas employment has been convicted on 14 counts of obtaining money by false pretense.

Horace Haughton, 52, also known as ‘Dr Perez’ or ‘Dr Maddison’, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to all 14 charges on Wednesday before Justice Leighton Pusey in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

Haughton, who has previous convictions for fraud-related crimes, was also indicted as a habitual offender and pleaded guilty.

He was remanded for sentencing on January 15 next year.

Haughton was apprehended in St Andrew in January with the assistance of the JamaicaEye camera system following investigations that were led by detectives from the now disbanded Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch and the Half-Way Tree police.

According to the police, between August and October 2025, Haughton and an associate, Sharlene Edwards, allegedly operated an unregistered business through which they recruited more than 200 applicants for overseas employment.

Investigators claimed that applicants paid the unregistered business more than $7 million based on promises of overseas jobs that never materialised.

A report was made to the police after victims realised that the employment offers were fraudulent.

Edwards was arrested in November last year and is awaiting trial on fraud-related charges.

-- Taneisha Mundle

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