Three men, who stole construction equipment from a man because he withheld payment for work they did for him, were each placed on $50,000 bail yesterday.
Akeem Alexander, 19, Volanzo Hackett, 18, and Randolph Williams, 20, all of Half Mile, Wismar, Linden had entered guilty pleas to the joint charges of break and enter and larceny when acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson read it to them.
They admitted that on December 14, at Industrial Site, Wismar, Linden, they broke and entered the storage bond of Clive Granville and stole two Power Master batteries, two chain saws, a quantity of machine blades and ten gallons of gasoline among several other items, all totalling $1.14M.
They told the court that they had worked at Granville’s sawmilling company for two weeks but that their payment was not forthcoming when they had inquired about it. Prosecutor Stephen Telford also corroborated what they had stated, adding that the boys had become frustrated about not receiving payments so they decided to commit the offence.
He said that though he does not condone what they did, it should be taken into account that Granville still owes $21, 000 to each of the men for the services that they had provided to his company.
He said that several other attempts made to get the money were unsuccessful. He noted that after the men were arrested, they had cooperated fully with the police by taking them to the different places that they had taken the equipment.
He said that all the items were recovered except two of the four batteries that Granville alleges that were stolen.
He said that the men told the police that they had only stolen two batteries.
The magistrate then entered not guilty pleas for the boys and told them that the matter will have to go to trial. The prosecution told the court that he had no objections to bail being granted. The magistrate later transferred the matter to the Christiansburg Magistrates’ Court for January 19 next year.
