Thomas gets slap on the wrist

Six months in jail is the penalty Ola Thomas will have to pay for being guilty of nine charges of theft and deception.{{more}}

Thomas, who managed to con two business places out of items valued at over $20,000, was sentenced on Tuesday, May 29 by Senior Magistrate Donald Browne.

He was sentenced to six months on each charge, but the sentences will run concurrently.

Thomas first appeared before the court on Monday, April 16, charged with obtaining by deception several electronic items, the property of Missed Call Tech in Kingstown. He then reappeared in court on May 14 and pleaded guilty to obtaining by deception several household items, the property of E.D. Layne and Sons.

He pleaded guilty to deceitfully obtaining the electronic items between February 18 and April 10, 2012. All the electronic items were obtained from the electronics store, Missed Call Tech.

The household items were obtained from E.D. Layne and Sons on December 30 and 31 2011.

Thomas stole persons’ credit card numbers and stored them in his mobile phone. He then went to Missed Call Tech and made a number of credit card purchases, using different names on different occasions. When the individuals received their credit card bills from a local bank, the owners of the cards stated that they had never made any purchases from Missed Call Tech.

Thomas was picked up by police when he went to make another purchase.

In the case of E.D. Layne and Sons, Thomas actually used stolen credit cards to make his purchases.

He pleaded guilty to stealing one Bank of SVG Visa Card, valued at $1,500, the property of Kendrick Frederick of Bequia, on December 19, 2011, at Cane Garden. He further pleaded guilty to stealing an RBTT Visa Card valued at $500, property of Kendrick Frederick of Bequia, on December 19, 2011, at Cane Garden.

Thomas was represented by counsel Duane Daniel.