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Posted By: Marty American Scammed By Pastor In Cayo - 01/21/11 03:45 PM
An 83 year old retired American doctor says he has spent the last 8 years investing over six hundred thousand dollars in 2 major projects in Cayo. One being a plant that will produce diesel form cassava and the other a soy milk factory. But as they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and that's what this man has been living with. After all that investment, there is little to show. That is because according to Doctor Robert Wyckoff, he has been conned by Pastor Hector Mar - a resident of San Ignacio Town. Wyckoff says that Pastor Mar was running his farmland while he was in the United States. 2 years ago he sent 2 hundred thousand dollars in Mar's bank account, money he claims Mar cannot account for today. But Mar says he has 100 thousand dollars in the bank and all he needs to do is go withdraw. Both parties spent the entire afternoon trying to resolve the issue at the San Ignacio Police Station and Monica Bodden spoke to Wyckoff�.

Dr. Robert Wyckoff, Victim
"The issue right now is that O sent down US$100,000.00 and I did not want it in my own name at that point so I trusted Hector and so its BZ$200,000.00 and he then ask if he could have half of that account to use as he needed on the farm. He start growing on it but he never gave me reports and he wouldn't talk about it so I came down and look into it, at one point he written himself a $19,000.00 cheque, another point he written himself a $40,000.00 cheque to close out the account a few days before I arrive. The other half BZ$100,000.00 was to be kept a part just for the fuel plant and he announces that he has it and that he has got it there for me but he will only give it to me if I promise not to tell the police about the things he has done and I won't get a lawyer to try and straighten things out."

Sr. Supt. Chester Williams
"We have a complaint that was made by Dr. Wyckoff in relation to a $200,000.00 he has sent down to one Mr. Hector Mar. However the circumstances as to how the money came was by virtue by a contractual agreement between both parties whereby the money was sent by Mr. Hector for certain things to be done that he and the doctor had agreed upon and apparently Mr. Hector Mar is saying that he still have $100,000.00 of that money in the bank which he claims that he is prepare to hand over to the doctor today, so we are currently in a meeting with both parties, we are trying to resolve the issue because there seems to be a tense issue between both parties as a result of this money so as the police we are mediating, trying to see if we could have both parties agreed to certain things and hopefully we will try our utmost best to have both parties walk away happy today so it is something we are working on, we are in dialogue with them right now and I am very optimistic that hopefully at the end of the day today the issue as it pertains to the money will be resolve as well as other issues that Mr. Hector is claiming as well."

Dr. Robert Wyckoff, Victim
"So he is gone now to the bank again but he won't bring it. In fact there is even a considerable that he even has it."

Sr. Supt. Chester Williams
"Mr. Mar had return and informs that the bank has been close so he has agreed to reconvene negotiations tomorrow morning at 8. We will see what will happen tomorrow morning. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that the money is indeed in the bank and that he will try to resolve this matter for the best interest of all parties involve, so we will see what happens tomorrow morning."

Dr. Robert Wyckoff, Victim
"I really believe in the man, I thought his faith was to provide proper notes and proper records but unless that he is semi-literate and really don't know how to do and how to use a computer. So when I came down here and said Hector we have to have good records and I hired a lady to help and she immediately saw all these things - turning in false bills. I think we pay $1700.00 for gasoline in one month for his to drive his car back and forth to the farm. He turn in bills that was ridiculous and thousands and thousands for construction materials like re-bar and cement never showed up on the farm. The farm paid for them. In six years he has never produce 10 cents profit from the farm, never anything. The worse thing is that every week I get a bill for 4 workers on the farm - $600.00 - $700.00 to pay the farm workers; now investigating we found out that there were no farm workers. What he did is that he was billing me for them working on the farm and then takes them and use them in his own construction business. Couple of them told me that they have never been on a farm, and they have been on my payroll for a year."

Sr. Supt. Chester Williams
"We have receipts and statements from some people who allege that they were working for Mr. Hector Mar and his own interest or his own construction company. I receive those statements a while ago and I will be reviewing those statements tomorrow morning to see if there is anything criminal as it pertains to the money receive from the doctor and the payment made to those persons working for Mr. Hector Mar own private interest. I will be looking at those tomorrow because we all know that money is money and whilst yes there might be statements from these people indicating that they were working for Mr. Hector Mar, one could argue where does the money come from? is it indeed the doctor money? what is Hector Mar money? so it is something that we have to look at. We will have to make a connection between the money for the doctor and the money being paid for those persons for Mr. Hector Mar's own interest and that connection will be a very difficult one to be made, hence the reason why I am still looking at the possibility that it might not be a matter for the police to deal with, it might be more a civil matter but as I said I will review them more intensely tomorrow and if needs be then I will seek the DPP's advise to see what direction she would guide us as it pertains to the way forward with those receipts and those persons who have given statement that they were working for Mr. Hector Mar own interest and being paid from money belonging to the doctor."

Monica Bodden
"When tomorrow comes if by chance that $100,000.00 is not delivered in the doctor's hands, what's next?"

Sr. Supt. Chester Williams
"Well like I said earlier the money came by virtue by a contractual agreement both parties and that in itself makes it none criminal. What we will have to do then as we had advice Mr. Wyckoff that it is more a civil matter and he will have to pursue action against Mr. Hector Mar in the civil court."

Dr. Robert Wyckoff, Victim
"Basically he is holding my money and kind of like a kidnapping - you will have your money back if you don't do anything bad against me."

Today Seven News also spoke with Pastor Hector Mar - who told us he is willing to hand over the one hundred thousand dollars that is being held in his account - but first he needs a written agreement signed by Dr. Robert Wyckoff which will give him the permission to take what's his from off the farm.

Channel 7

Posted By: Marty Re: American Scammed By Pastor In Cayo - 01/26/11 03:31 PM

The Much Maligned Mar Makes A Statement In His Own Defence

Last week on the news, 83 year old retired American doctor Robert Wyckoff - alleged that he had been scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by a Cayo pastor.

According to Wyckoff, over the past 8 years he had been conned out of six hundred thousand dollars by Pastor Hector Mar - who was running his farmland in the Los Tambos area in the Cayo District.

2 years ago Wyckoff said he had sent 2 hundred thousand dollars in Mar's bank account, money he claimed Mar could not give an accounting for.

Well on Friday of last week, Pastor Mar handed over one hundred thousand dollars to Wyckoff -under the agreement that Wyckoff would pursue the other hundred thousand dollars that he feels Mar has for him, in a civil suit.

But Wyckoff also said he will personally take up the matter with the DPP because he wants Mar to go to jail.

Today 7news caught up with Pastor Hector Mar who says he is innocent and told us his side of the story.

Hector Mar, Accused of Obtaining property by deception
"What happened is that we had a contractual agreement between me and Dr. Wyckoff to do a joint venture and this money was to set aside on a fixed deposit and it was there for a long time and so now he came up and he said that he wanted his money, it looks like he doesn't want to venture into this business again with me so I handed over the one hundred thousand dollars and hopefully that's the end of that one hundred thousand dollars. I want to tell the public today that I am a Belizean, I am proud to be a Belizean and that I know that they want to hear this part of the story. I've been trying to cope with my spiritual and personal life for the past week and I know they have terribly smeared my name but as the saying says 'there is always two sides to a story.' I met Dr. Wyckoff in 2005 when he bought a piece of land through Tropic Real Estate. He bought the land and since I had a piece adjacent to his - he had me do some work for him and as he as an investor and me as a businessman we start doing work. Upon doing the work he signed an agreement with me, a contract and I have a copy of that contract which I will not show now, that is for the lawyers to handle afterwards if needed. But anyway I know that we started a business and I got to know him and for these past years he has been staying at my house, we became friends. It became like a partnership friendship thing. He was part of the family so I don't see why he didn't try to arrange this internally if he had anything in question. I get calls and emails from abroad, people are seeing that there is something else behind this, people are not fools. People are noticing that there is something vindictive and something else going on. There might be jealousy, there might be somebody else involved and it's not only Dr. Wyckoff, he has 3 more persons. When I went to the farm, two gentlemen went to threaten me and they tore down my sign at the property and Mr. Williams also mention that they could be charged for property damage, that's what he said. But anyway I am saying that there is always two sides to a story. I've been working hard with Dr. Wyckoff, I work at the farm, for example we put in a $17,000.00 water tank - that's the capacity of the tank, several thousand feet of water lines to supply water for an irrigation system, he has solar panel powered equipment to pump the water 150 feet down below. So there have been a lot of work going on but they never mention how much work I did and the public is not aware of this, for example I have in my hands here a building that was built for $300,000.00. This building was built by myself and they haven't mention this at all and it's there, the proof is there. And on the other hand not only did I build it but while working on the job I suffered a terrible accident that almost cost my life and the expenses were very high. Again they have not mentioned this. Since I was not insured I had to stand all costs. But they never mention something like this. So I've been working and the proof is there that we've been doing a lot of work and so all of a sudden for these few years which is like 6-7 years that we've been working together everything was smooth. He said at one point, 'Hector I like you like a son.' He says, 'You remind me of a son I never did have,' so we were very close, so it was like a partnership, friendship, family thing."

"We have laws in our country that are govern in such a manner that you and I know that justice will be made, so we'll leave that to the courts and to the lawyers to work on that."

And now, there's a new wrinkle on the story - as Police seem to be taking up the investigation, after previously taking a hands off approach.

Police report that they are investigating a complaint of obtaining property by deception against Mar after Wyckoff made a complaint saying that Mar told him that he could purchase 28 acres of land in the Los Tambos area in the Cayo District, valued at thirty thousand dollars.

According to Wyckoff, he wrote a cheque in Mars name for the 30 thousand dollars and gave it to him to purchase the 28 acres of land- which was supposed to be transferred in Wyckoff's name. Wyckoff told police that when he visited the Lands Department in San Ignacio Town on Monday- he was informed that the land is not registered in his name, but was, in fact, registered in Mar's name. Police say they are investigating.

Channel 7

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