Security guard fined $3,000 for theft, forgery

Franklyn Bailey’s job was to help safeguard against thieves, instead he was the one who was caught stealing.

Justice Gertel Thom, on Monday January 20th, 2009 at the High Court in Kingstown imposed a $3,000 fine on the 60-year-old Security Guard after he pleaded guilty to four counts of theft on September 17, 2007. He was ordered to pay the fine in one year.{{more}} In default, he will spend three years at Her Majesty’s Prison. Bailey also pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument. He was given a three-year suspended prison sentence on both counts.

The facts read in court indicated that Bailey was employed at the Public Service Union Headquarters as a Security Guard. On Monday September 17, 2007, the secretary and the office attendant were reviewing some of the union’s cheques and noticed that the signatures on some the cheques did not match that of the Union’s, and that those cheques were written in the defendant’s name. The police were called in on the matter, after which Bailey was arrested and charged.

Now employed as a Security Guard elsewhere, Bailey said that it was around that time of year when school was in progress and he needed to buy school supplies. He said he had asked his employers to borrow some money, but they refused. “That is when I took the cheques. Is the same money I get from the cheques, I buy the books with,” he explained.

Bailey’s lawyer, Sylvester Raymond- Cadette told the court that his client only used two of the cheques that he took. The lawyer further stated that Bailey has already paid back $600 and is remorseful for his actions. Raymond-Cadette further noted that since the incident, Bailey’s wife has left him and now the father of three is the sole breadwinner of the home.

In handing down her sentence, Justice Thom made it clear to Bailey that even though he was in a time of need, he had no right to steal. “You were placed in a position of trust. You were there to guard their property from thieves and you turned around and stole from them,” Thom stated.