You might call her naive, but a 35-year-old unemployed woman is hoping that the police can help her to retrieve $150,000 she reportedly gave to a man she met in Kingston during the summer to purchase building materials.

The single woman Tonia Marshall from Kingston told THE STAR that she is surprised how quickly she trusted a man whom she had known for a couple of months.

"Him must be a 'three-card man'. Mi give him mi money from August and all now mi can't get di material or get back mi money. Him all move from where mi did know him live," Marshall, the mother of three children said.

She told THE STAR that on June 27, she met a man driving a pickup van and they exchanged numbers.

"The same day I met this man, I called him in the night and we spoke from after 11p.m., until after 3 a.m., from there we introduced ourselves and started talking everyday. He told me that he is an architect and I told him that I have a piece of land that I want to build a house on. He said that he could draw up a plan for me and that he could get the building materials for me at a discounted price," Marshall said.

Interestingly, Marshall said that she and the man also got intimately involved as she admitted that she was attracted to him and vulnerable at the time.

hardware

"Him tell mi seh him child's mother lives overseas and him get triplet and twin. He told me that he could get four tonnes of steel, 2,000 building blocks, 200 bags of cement, ply board and binding wires and some more stuff. He said that he could get this for $350,000 from the hardware and that he paid down some money for me and I should give him $150,000," Marshall said.

She further told THE STAR that she withdrew the funds from her credit union account, but since she handed over the money to the man, she is yet to receive the building material or a refund.

"Each time I ask him for the material, he said that his cousin was suppose to use a truck to carry up the material and every time something else comes up and him a have a different story or excuse. There was a time when him stop visit me and one minute him seh his sister was in the island and he had to be taking her around the country. A next time him seh his belly a hurt him, and him nuh defecate for 15 days. All kinds of stories him come up with as to why I couldn't see him," Marshall said.

Marshall said she was even told that she would get a refund of her money and when she went to the Western Union to collect the funds, no money was there to collect.

"All this time he was taking my calls, but from Monday him stop answering him phone. Not even overseas call him answer," Marshall said.

The police at the St Andrew Central, Criminal Investigation Branch, (CIB) told THE STAR yesterday that they have a photograph of the accused and they are searching for him.

THE STAR understands that the man has moved from his rented home and that Marshall is not the only female who has made a complaint against him.