Lear Goring, a close friend of Guyana Water Inc’s (GWI) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Richard Van West-Charles and who has been employed as the Debt Collection Manager at the utility company, is believed to be a convicted drug trafficker.
According to court documents seen by this newspaper, Lear Goring was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine in 1995 and he later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 63 months in prison by Judge K M Moore in a Brooklyn, New York Court. He was expected to be supervised for 48 months after release.
Following his sentencing, Goring petitioned the court to waive his rights to a deportation hearing and said he agreed to be deported immediately, which would have seen him receiving a reduction of the sentence.
It is not clear when Goring was deported, but along with his mother, Joycelyn Goring, he had filed a petition for a naturalisation hearing in front of Judge I Leo Glasser on September 26, 2000.
According to the documents seen by this newspaper, the US government objected to this petition on the grounds that Goring was convicted in 1990 of drug trafficking and deported in 1993 and then he returned to the US in 1995 with “a forged passport and drugs.”
“Goring cannot be deemed a national,” the document said. The petition was dismissed in 2002 after the court was informed that Goring was deported.
Stabroek News attempted to speak to Goring but he informed the security guard at GWI that he was not “speaking to anyone.
Van West-Charles, who employed Goring, was said to be unavailable.
Last week the CEO was asked about Goring, who is said to be a director in the fuel company that was recently granted a licence to import and distribute fuel and on which Van West-Charles also sits as a Director, and he responded, “And so what happened with that?” He terminated the conversation shortly after.
