Jamaican guest worker in limbo as sentencing is delayed of fraudster who posed as immigration lawyer and stole $14,346By Jonathan BellA Jamaican guest worker who lost nearly $15,000 to a fraudster has been reduced to living off the charity of friends while he waits for justice.“It’s really heart-wrenching to know people can do this stuff,” construction worker Albert Ricketts said. “All I need is my money.”Joel Balfour admitted in April to obtaining money by deception.His Magistrates’ Court sentencing was delayed until next month — time that Mr Ricketts can ill afford.The 43-year-old is desperately awaiting a reparation order to get some of his money back.He admitted he found it difficult to contain his disappointment at the delay.Mr Ricketts has been supporting two children back home in Westmoreland, Jamaica, as well as his parents, Mavis and Reginald Ricketts, through monthly payments of JMD$27,000 (US$307).Appearing a half-hour late at court for his sentencing, Balfour was chastised by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner by failing to meet with his court officer until Tuesday, making it too late to prepare a pre-sentencing report.Mr Warner ordered the emotional Balfour, who claimed he’d had “a high fever for two weeks”, to return to court on July 6.“He is lucky I am in church,” said Mr Ricketts, who is thankful to have the loan of a room on Curving Avenue and friends to help him obtain food.Balfour, a Trinidadian guest worker who posed as an immigration lawyer online, has admitted obtaining $14,346 by deception between November 2011 and April of this year.Mr Ricketts described meeting and “completely trusting” Balfour in November, when he promised to help him obtain papers to divorce his Jamaican wife, allowing him to emigrate to Canada with his children and his Filipino girlfriend.“My aim was a better life for my children,” he said. “I was hoping for me and them to go there and work. When I found out there was nothing happening, it just broke me down.“When I found out he was lying to me, it felt like my whole body drained. Explaining this to people was not easy. This money could help do a lot of things back home. I saved this money over a year or more.”Balfour was paid a starting fee of $1,800 to initiate proceedings by e-mail through a Canadian lawyer, “Patrick Ferguson”, who in fact was Balfour himself.The rest of the money was paid in instalments until his exasperated victim realised the deception and contacted police in April.“I was hoping [to leave the Island] sometime in the next couple weeks,” said Mr Ricketts, who is now jobless. “I am OK with living but the day-to-day expenses, it’s a struggle.”His mother, who is diabetic, and his father, who is suffering from prostate cancer, are being cared for by his sister, Dorothy.“I am the only bread winner for them,” he explained.“This man was in court today acting like he is dumb. I saw him on [May 28] in town and he was fine. He says he was sick two weeks; they need to check up on him regularly.”Stressed and bewildered by constantly being put off, Mr Ricketts learned in February that he is diabetic, with extremely high blood sugar.“My aim is just to get some money and go back to my country,” he said. “It has been a tragedy.”