SAPS Lyttleton in the Tshwane area has initiated a manhunt for an escaped suspect identified as Kingsley Leeto Chele, who portrayed himself as a doctor and duped people out of their money.
Police reveal that Chele is an alleged Facebook con artist who used the names Dr Kingsley Chele or Dr KJ Ncube to lure women.
“Chele is a Facebook con artist who targeted women by misrepresenting himself as a doctor or a pharmacist and scamming them of their hard-earned money. He went by the name of Dr Kingsley Chele or Dr KJ Ncube.
“He operated by contacting health professionals on Facebook and engaging them, pretending to seek investors while he swindled them out of thousands of rand for projects that did not exist.”
It is alleged that he was arrested by the police on October 2, after two cases of fraud were registered in Sunnyside and Klipgat in June.
He was denied bail when he appeared before the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court and remanded in custody until his (scheduled) appearance today.
The investigating officer roped in the Asset Forfeiture Unit to assist in attaching the accused’s property believed to have been accumulated as proceeds of crime.
These include a 2023 VW Golf GTI.
On October, 11, Chele escaped from lawful custody when the police were cataloguing his household items at his residence and has been on the run.
The police have registered a case of escape from lawful custody at SAPS Honeydew.