(CMR) A 61-year-old woman was arrested on Wednesday, February 15, at Scotiabank, Camana Bay location on suspicion of obtaining a money transfer by deception in relation to an ongoing financial investigation. Her arrest prompted a Caymanian real estate agent to be erroneously named as the arrested person.
CMR sources revealed on Thursday that the previous day an “older woman” was arrested at the Forum Lane branch after police “staked out” the location to find her in the act. Bank managers took her into the manager's office to shield her from public view. It appeared that they did not want the nine customers in the bank line to observe what had taken place. They have also instructed all employees to not reveal any details about the incident.
It was further revealed that the plain-clothed officers escorted the person out of a side door and into an unmarked waiting police vehicle. All indications are that the woman is a domestic helper connected to a real estate agent. Sources revealed that she was involved in some “email scam” and was taking large sums of cash from her employer's Scotiabank account and transferring it to an overseas account. The source also revealed that it was multiple transactions in increments between $10-20,000 at a time.
Although Kiara McLaughlin is not related to the incident in any way, the rumor mill named her, and it went viral. Speaking exclusively to CMR in a recent interview, McLaughlin confirmed that, at first, she did not take the matter seriously but soon realized that the rumor was no joke and had reached a large number of persons on the island.
An eyewitness shared that the woman had an “uncanny resemblance” to McLaughlin but was visibly older. It appears that the confusion was related to the physical resemblance and that the woman also works for a realtor as a domestic worker. The realtor is not connected to McLaughlin in any way.
She noted that she has worked extremely hard in the real estate industry, focusing on being honest and professional, and it was really disappointing to see that people were spreading this rumor with no regard for her professional reputation. However, she remains positive that her clients will continue to entrust their real estate needs to her.
She did note that her disappointment was worsened when she realized that some people had believed the unfortunate story and had reached out to her. She commented, “this is very distracting, and I wish that people would verify things like this before causing unnecessary damage to a person's reputation.”
McLaughlin started working with Century 21 over three years ago in an administrative role and eventually moved into selling real estate part-time. Her love for the profession continues, and she now works with My Realtor helping to make people's dreams come through. McLaughlin is known for her hip and young marketing strategies that are fun and catchy all at the same time.
The police have confirmed that the investigation is ongoing, and no further details could be made available at this time.
Kiara McLaughlin sets the record straight in an interview last week
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