Jones admits to stealing potatoes

Claims that he was “sprouting potatoes” got a 26-year-old man a charge for praedial larceny.

Rasheed Demetrio Jones, of Colleton, St John also wasted little time in pleading guilty to stealing 71 pounds of potatoes worth $213 on February 24 belonging to Armag Investments.

About 11:40 a.m. on that date the plantation’s manager was passing by when he spotted Jones, whom he had employed last December, in the field with a bag. He approached him but as he got near, Jones looked in his direction and walked away. The manager continued to approach and asked the accused his reason for being in the potato field. Jones reportedly told the manager that he did not have a phone and that’s why he did not call him to notify him of his actions.

Jones complied when asked to leave and the potatoes were discovered in the bag. The matter was reported to the police, prosecutor Station Sergeant Peter Barrow said.

Today in the District ‘C’ Magistrates’ Court Jones told Chief Magistrate Christopher Birch: “I went sprouting for some potatoes.”

“Some guys by me does steal the potatoes but I wasn’t . . . . I normally notify him (the manager) that I was in the ground but I didn’t because my phone was not working.”

Birch informed the young man that he was currently on a suspended sentence, which carried a two-year prison sentence. The Chief Magistrate remanded him to Dodds until Tuesday when the plantation’s manager is expected to appear in court to speak on the matter.