Socks thief gets four months jail time

A 48-year-old with 20 previous convictions for theft was sentenced to four months in prison yesterday, after stealing $20 worth of socks by placing them in his crotch.

Curtis Joseph has appeared before the court a number of times for the year, and returned once more on August 17, charged with stealing four pairs of socks, the property of Cloud 9, a department store at Middle Street.

According to the police, the incident took place on the morning of August 10. The supervisor of the store was informed by one of the employees that an unknown male had taken up the socks, placed them in his crotch, and walked out of the store without paying for them.

The supervisor checked the store’s footage, and reported the matter to the police. When the police viewed the footage they recognized the Sion Hill resident, and last Friday, Joseph was taken into custody at Heritage Square.

Yesterday, August 17, at the Serious Offences Court, Joseph told the Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne that he wasn’t in full control of his senses at the time, and had been drinking.

He also said that he wanted to pay the store.

Browne asked him if all the other times he came before the court he was not in full control of his senses.

Senior Prosecutor Adolphus Delplesche asked to see the defendant’s antecedent record, and after perusing commented that the defendant must drink a lot because he was counted 32 previous convictions, with 20 for theft.

He told the magistrate that when persons like Joseph come to the court and say they were drinking, but have such a record, it makes one wonder who they think they’re talking to.

The prosecutor said that the court was compelled to, and had to send a strong message.

“They too tief!” the displeased prosecutor summarized.

After standing down the matter for some time, the magistrate recalled Joseph for sentencing. She noted while deciding the seriousness of the offence, that although the item is small, such things add up for businesses.

Using the sentencing guidelines, she determined that it was a crime with a high level of seriousness and well planned. “No drinking involved here,” she commented.

She noted that the socks were concealed on his body in a place where restitution would not be possible.

His extensive criminal record with “quite a few in this year alone” worked against him, and the magistrate did not find any mitigating factors.

A six-month prison sentence was reduced, in light of Joseph’s guilty plea, to four months incarceration as the final sentence.