Man charged with conning banned marathon runner Lonyangata

A man looking to illegally cash in on the doping craze has been nabbed and sued for impersonation among other charges.

Thomas Kipyatich Kiptoo was arrested on Monday morning and charged before Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo of Eldoret Law court, for falsely representing himself to be Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) officer. 

Kiptoo who is also known as Thamer Kamal and Thomas Kiprotich was charged with others not before court, for falsely obtaining money from two-time Paris Marathon Champion, Paul Kipchumba Lonyangata, to assist him terminate his Anti-Doping Rule violation.

The suspect who allegedly holds a Kenyan and Ugandan citizenship, was arrested by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) after convincing Lonyangata, to give him money ranging from Sh5,000 to Sh500,000 on diverse dates in 2021.

Kiptoo a resident of Eldoret, Usain Gishu County, was charged with eight counts of obtaining money by false pretenses contrary to section 313 of the penal code cap 63 laws of Kenya, he denied all counts and was released on a Sh200,000 bond with a surerity of similar amount or cash bail of Sh100,000.

Lonyangata a marathoner was suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) on February 2022 for 19 months after admitting to use a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency Furosemide.