By Ray King
A $5,000 bond was set Thursday for a Pine Bluff man accused of stealing money from another person’s bank account.
Pine Bluff District Judge John Kearney set the bond after ruling prosecutors have probable cause to charge Jean-Paul Celestine, 40, with financial identity fraud and theft of property.
During the court hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Lisa McGriff explained that an unknown person ad contacted the bank and asked that money be transferred from the victim into the account opened by Celestine.
When Celestine was questioned, he said a buddy had told him to set up the bank account and he (the buddy) would put money into it. He said he did not know where the money came from and had no contact information for the “buddy.”
Celestine was told to come back to court April 4 and said he would hire his own attorney.
