Accused jailed for big bill on stolen mobile

Former security guard Shavon Lamar Welch-Chery was back before the law court for the second time this week.

Welch-Chery who gave his address as Farmers, St Thomas but on Wednesday gave it as Sugar Hill, St Joseph, again pleaded guilty to stealing a cellular phone between December 1, 2019 and January 24. He also admitted to obtaining from Digicel Barbados Limited during that same period, $8,015 worth of cellular and data services by falsely representing that he had lawful possession of the device and was authorised to use the services.

According to the facts the owner of the device visited one of the telecommunications company’s outlet to query about the extremely high phone bill. When the matter was investigated it was discovered that the calls and data were used when he was out of the island. The owner of the phone said the last time he saw the device was in his vehicle’s glove compartment when he took it to valet. The accused was employed at the establishment.

“I know what I did was wrong,” Welch-Chery told Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant today before he was sentenced to 12 months in prison for running up the telephone bill. He was reprimanded and discharged for stealing the phone as it was recovered.

However, his guilty plea triggered a one-year bond imposed on him two days ago. Unable a pay the court-imposed $1,500 forthwith fine he was sentenced to the alternative of three months in prison for that theft.