A food vendor, accused of selling a number of brand name items that were stolen from a Regent Street store, was placed on $50,000 bail yesterday after denying the charge.
Tenesha Roberts, 20, of Plaisance, pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on November 15, on Regent Street, she received a GUESS purse, a belt and three brand name jeans, carrying a total value of $63,000, knowing the items to be stolen. The items were the property of the Top Brands Store.
Prosecutor Deniro Jones stated that the store lost $4M in property during a robbery and Roberts was seen selling some of the stolen items.
He added that she had identified the person from whom she received the items but the police could not locate the individual.
Roberts’ attorney, Paul Fung-A-Fat, in submitting a bail application, told the court that she was innocent of the charge levelled against her since she had bought the items from the market two weeks before the robbery.
Fung-A-Fat further questioned the value and quality of the items mentioned in the charge, while stating that his client purchased the said items for $20,000 in the market. “I don’t know what kind of GUESS they talking about. It must be some kind of Chinese GUESS,” the attorney suggested before adding that two times the markup value for the items was mentioned in the charge.
He also noted that the owner of the store is threatening his client. “They can’t tie robbery with my client’s matter. If that is the case, the prosecutor will get an uphill battle with me in the trial” Fung-A-Fat added.
Jones did not object to bail but asked that it be set at a substantial amount to ensure that she returns for trial and that she should report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) every Friday.
Magistrate Ann McLennan subsequently granted $50,000 bail and ordered Roberts to report to the Officer-in-Charge of the Alberttown Police Station every Friday. The matter was adjourned until January 7 for the filing of statements.
