Charges against ex-SSA employees, police officer dropped

Charges against two former employees of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) and a police officer have been dropped by the court because the prosecution failed to comply with court directives, including the timely preparation and prosecution of the case.

Master Kimitra Gray freed Ian Albert Ezekiel Brown, pastor of the Jerusalem Bride Church and self-proclaimed spy; Sgt Sherwin Waldron, who was formerly assigned to the Special Operations Response Team (SORT); and former security supervisor of the SSA Susan Portell-Griffith.

The three were freed on February 26, after the state failed to progress the case.

They were charged late on May 20, 2024, with multiple counts of misbehaviour in public office related to the alleged transfer and possession of firearms and ammunition.

Their re-arrest and charges against them came 24 hours after the three, along with fired SSA director Major Roger Best, had been released from custody.

Best was fired on May 18, 2024, which was announced in a statement from the Ministry of National Security that Minister Fitzgerald Hinds had advised acting President Nigel de Freitas to terminate Best’s appointment as director of the elite agency with immediate effect.

Best remained in custody after police detained him for questioning on May 16, but was released days later.

In early March, the Prime Minister, as head of the National Security Council, recalled retired Brig Gen Anthony Phillips-Spencer, ambassador to the US, to replace Best.

Dr Rowley announced Best’s suspension shortly after he met with the Central Intelligence Agency director and other top US intelligence officials on a trip to Washington, DC. Rowley said the reason for the decision was an impending threat to national security.

In mid-March, then-Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher dismissed Brown as a special reserve police officer.