_{Photo: Sorangel Ayuso, charged}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 6, 2025

A Belize City woman has been remanded to the Belize City Prison after being charged for allegedly swindling over 30,000 dollars from her aunt’s business located at the Downtown Plaza on Albert Street, Belize City.

The accused woman, 28-year-old Sorangel Desiree Ayuso, on September 18, 2024, allegedly used a forged document to withdraw $1,500 from the Holy Redeemer Credit Union account of her aunt, Adelita Ramirez, by whom she had been employed. The withdrawals were repeated over a period of three months, with each withdrawal ranging from $500 to $10,000, which resulted in a total withdrawn amount of $31,000.

On Friday, January 3, 2025, Ayuso was slapped with 26 charges – 13 counts of theft and 13 counts of claiming upon a forged document. During the arraignment, she claimed that Ramirez requested that legal actions against her be dropped, as she had spoken to police officers. However, Ramirez was absent during the court session due to an emergency in El Salvador. The Magistrate informed Ayuso that such requests must be directed to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Additionally, the Magistrate explained to Ayuso that the charges would be tried on indictment, and no plea was taken. The prosecutor objected to the offering of bail due to the serious nature of the offenses. Thus, Ayuso was remanded to prison until February 28.