A Trinidadian guest worker conned a Jamaican guest worker out of $14,346 by posing as a lawyer and pretending to help him with immigration and divorce proceedings.Joel Balfour, a 42-year-old IT engineer, admitted that he obtained the money by deception from Albert Ricketts between November 2011 and April 2012.Prosecutor Maria Sofianos told Magistrates’ Court that construction worker Mr Ricketts, 43, met Balfour through a mutual friend last November.Balfour told him he could get divorce papers for him relating to a marriage in Jamaica so he could move to Canada with his family and what Ms Sofianos described as his “Filipino friend”.Balfour, of Warwick, told the victim, from Pembroke, that he knew a Canadian lawyer who could get the paperwork in four months for $7,000.Mr Ricketts paid him $1,800 that same month to get the divorce proceedings going. He then paid the rest of the money in follow-up instalments at the behest of Balfour, who named the Canadian attorney as “Patrick Ferguson”.However, Ms Sofianos said Balfour was in fact posing as Patrick Ferguson, who does not exist, and sent e-mails to the victim pretending to be the lawyer. Mr Ricketts became suspicious and reported Balfour to the police, who arrested him on Saturday.At this point, said the prosecutor, the defendant admitted creating the fictitious name of the lawyer to make Mr Ricketts think he was dealing with a genuine person. She said Balfour deserves a prison sentence.She also indicated that the prosecution is seeking a reparation order for the full amount of money taken from the victim. Ms Sofianos invited Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner to adjourn the matter until she could obtain a “victim impact statement” from Mr Ricketts.“It may give you an idea of his need, the desperation in continually going back to him [with money] or maybe naivety,” she explained.Addressing the court, Balfour, who is married to a foreigner with two children born in Bermuda said: “I would like to apologise to Mr Ricketts for causing the stress that I have put him through. This is not something that I am very proud of. I would love to be out of here and give back every dollar and every cent that is owed to him.”He said he continues to be employed, although he did not name his employer. Defence lawyer Leo Mills said Balfour had worked at the company for more than a year, and that his wife is expecting their third child.However, after establishing that Balfour is in Bermuda on a work permit, Mr Warner noted that the case may mean he is not employed in future.Nonetheless, he encouraged him in his plan to repay the victim. He ordered a pre-sentence report and gave the defendant $5,000 bail with the proviso that he must surrender his travel documents.He told Balfour to return to court for sentencing in June.