A man who was out on parole arrested for impersonating high ranking officer
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A man 41 years old man who was out on parole for committing a crime has found himself back in the prison cells awaiting trial after being arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer.
Thabo Enoch Theletsane made an appearance at Hatfield Magistrates Court after it was found he, on several occasions had falsely used to former National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya to defraud people.
One of which was a businessman whom he contacted via WhatsApp using a profile picture of former Lt Gen Godfrey Lebeya.
During the call with the victim, he allegedly claimed his phone had been hacked and that the businessman would be contacted by “Mr. Mokoena,” purportedly a police officer from the cybercrime unit.Posing as “Mr. Mokoena,” Theletsane allegedly told the businessman that his phone had been hacked and offered to “clean” it.
He is accused of requesting the businessman’s frequently used contact numbers, which he then obtained. The accused allegedly asked the businessman to make a payment for a hard drive to store his information; however, this payment was not made.
In a separate incident, Theletsane allegedly contacted another complainant using the numbers supplied by the businessman. He allegedly told the second complainant that their phone had been hacked and requested a payment of R50,000 for a hard drive to store their information.
The complainant paid the money. After realising they had been defrauded, both victims reported the matter to the police on 01 November 2024.
Pleading his case in court to be released on bail, he told the presiding officer that he has seven children dependent on him and another one on the way.In opposing his application, the Prosecutor stated in an affidavit that the accused had deliberately given a false address during the investigation and had two previous convictions for fraud and forgery from 2020, making him likely to reoffend if released.
He was denied bail and due to appear again on September 2nd, 2025 at Pretoria Magistrates Court.
