(Jamaica Observer) A member of the Jamaican all-schools team to the annual end of season tournament in South Florida is to appear before a Dade County judge this morning after he was caught shoplifting in a store in the US state on Sunday.
The 19-year-old grade 13 student of a Corporate Area school was charged for shoplifting, a misdemeanour under the Florida legal code, a senior member of the delegation confirmed to the Jamaica Observer last night.
The delegation of 20 players plus officials is expected back today but the player had made arrangements to spend the rest of the holidays with relatives in the USA, it was said.
It was heard that the player and several other members of the team had gone to the store and were leaving when the discovery was made that one of them had an item, a piece of clothing, that was not paid for.
He was held by store security and the police called and he was taken to a police station where he was processed and released into the custody of Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) officials.
The ISSA official told the Observer that today’s appearance in court “will be a formality” where the player will sign documents agreeing to community service which he will be able to do in Jamaica.
It was said that on completion of the community service the player, if he wanted, could return to the court to get the charge expunged from his record.
It is understood that the ISSA officials and their hosts Caribbean Americas Soccer Association provided legal support for the player, where an attorney was engaged and oversaw the entire process. However, the ISSA official who spoke to the Observer, expressed disappointment that the incident took place.
“We have nothing to hide, as at ISSA we believe in transparency. This was one of the things we spoke to the boys about,” he said. “We urged them to be on their best behaviour at all times: no noise at the hotel, family members must visit at reasonable times, and be careful at all times.”
The Jamaica team maintained their supremacy at the tournament winning all their games to retain the title.
