Two convicted for handling money stolen from GECCU

FOR HANDLING some of $110,000, stolen from the Georgetown branch of GECCU in 2013, a male and female defendant were found guilty by a jury this Wednesday.

A nine member jury unanimously convicted Kenneta James, a 40-yearold woman of Chateaubelair, and Mark Williams, 25 years old of New Montrose, this Tuesday after a two-day trial. They were tried for, between June 19, 2013, and July 2, 2013, knowing or believing a sum of money to be stolen, dishonestly receiving it for their own benefit.

Counsel for the crown Karim Nelson put forward the prosecution’s case, which consisted of three witnesses and electronic interviews. However, neither James nor Williams were legally represented.

The sentencing for the two by Justice Brian Cottle on March 8, will see the last accused in relation to the 2013 incident being sentenced, as one Junior James, brother of Kenneta James, had already pleaded guilty to burglary of the Government Employees Cooperative Credit Union(GECCU) previously.

His plea was accepted on December 13, 2016, and he was given a sentence of seven years in prison, minus the years he had already been in prison, which was close to three and a half years.

The burglary of GECCU is said to have taken place in the wee hours of the morning on June 21, 2013. The Georgetown Police Station had received a phone call at 3:35 am from the security firm which managed the building, to say that the alarm had been triggered. When the police arrived on the scene, they reportedly met two masked men in the street, who bolted when they recognized them as police. The police did not catch them that morning.

The Supervisor of the Georgetown branch of GECCU then appeared on the scene, and law enforcement proceeded to check the building. It was noted that the safe of the building had been “ripped apart” and $110,000 in cash was missing, along with a Nokia cellphone.

A series of electronic interviews was conducted after this, and in one of them Williams apparently admitted to the police that he bought certain items with money that was given to him by Junior James directly, and Kenneta James indirectly. The police also took into evidence $4830 from Kenneta. Her brother, in admitting to the burglary, also admitted that he handed over the money from the heist to Kenneta.

The defendants’ defence was that they did not know that the money was stolen, but apparently certain things came out in the trial, such as the fact that the money was hidden outside the house.