body,td,th { font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; }
Now the other gun license story that is of far more pressing interest to us is the case of gun license purchasing raised by Marybeth Wade - the former girlfriend of the notorious Winston Tanga James. She's living in the US now - and spoke to us frankly about how she bought a gun license, duly approved and signed by the commissioner of police even though she had a criminal record for drug possession.
Two weeks go the commissioner said he granted it because he did not know who she was when he issued the gun license in June of 2021 - and when he found out he immediately cancelled it. But, he confirms he was misled by a fraudulent vetting of Marybeth Wade. But, how did such a vetting - which can only come from Special Branch - end up on his desk? And why didn't he stop and do an immediate investigation then and there?
Jules Vasquez asked him today:
Jules Vasquez:
"What is concerning is that the fraudulent betting reached your desk. How does this end up on your desk? And what is the second concerning item is that you did nothing to arrest a fraudulent chain of approval. Anyone would think that at that time when when you see something so alarming, come on your desk, you would say, hey, we have a problem here that somebody is cheating the vetting process and you would stop it, demand an audit. You did none of these things."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I could have seen why I approved the license because the vetting was impeccable. I then contacted the officer who whose name appeared on the vetting officer. And I asked him, I said, Do you know who is Marybeth? He said, yes. And he described the how he sees her. And so I said to him, So then how do you have everything that totally contradicts what you are saying now?"
"He said to me, say, boss, I did not vet Ms. Marybeth. So I sent everything to him with all that stuff. I said, look at it and ask him, Did you do that vetting? He said, no. And so I asked him to re-vet Marybeth, and he re-vetted her and he sent the new vetting to me, which he did. And the vetting that he did mirrored what he said about Marybeth and what other persons had said about her."
Jules Vasquez:
"How do you know he was not misspeaking or how you know he wasn't lying."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We investigated the matter and there was nothing to show that he was lying. So I do not understand how you would say that I did nothing, because as I found out about the situation, I revoked the license. I did not hesitate. I didn't even write to her and try to give reasons. I went straight to revocation."
Jules Vasquez:
"Right. But clearly, your chain of vetting was compromised because this fraudulent vetting ended up on your desk. How does it end up on your desk?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Firearm applications come to my office every day. As I said before, people constantly called, said that they have applied two, three, four months ago and have not received a reply. It is unfair to them. So because of that I accommodate people to come to Belmopan bring the application and we do our best to facilitate them from there. So whoever may have brought hers brought it in a mail and just delivered it to my office."
"When the secretary goes through incoming, she would take out the mails and then she would put them on my desk. And then I would then go through them and approve or disapprove or whatever the case may be. And that is how it happened, right? I figured who the person was who brought Marybeth's one, and thereafter I said nothing that person brings I'm going to look at or I'm going to approve. Every system is not 100% proof. There is always going to be that little opening or little percentage of things that will slip you. The question then is what do you do when you discover it? And you'll see that my track record has been that once I find out something, I take swift and immediate action to address it."
Reporter: "So what kind of repercussions did that officer face?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well, the matter is, I had turned the matter over to the ombudsman, who is dealing with the investigation. Like I said, Marybeth, in her interview, she practically told us through Jules Vazquez, who the person was. And we have identified who that individual is and the investigation for the ombudsman and Mr. Dawson."
Jules Vasquez:
"What do you mean? Is it fair that you're targeting one officer for what appears to be a wholesale problem? Because I've spoken to credible people, Commissioner, who told me, no, you're not. Talk to the police that talk to the next police. No, you're not talking the talk the next one. There are so many points of contact for obtaining a fraudulent gun license, according to anecdotal evidence from credible sources."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Jules. I do not know what you refer to as credible sources. I do not think that there are a number of fraudulent license out there. I don't think so."
