Jail for guard who stole Bhagwansingh’s money

STACY MOORE

A security officer employed by S.W.A.T. Estate Police Company, who stole $31,500 in cash and cheques from Bhagwansingh’s Hardware, has been sent to prison for nine months with hard labour.

Crystal Mc Mayo, 31, of Malick Road, Barataria went on a spending spree purchasing two Samsung S7 Edge cell phones costing $8,000, paid some bills and bought groceries.

She appeared before senior magistrate Jo-Anne Connor in the Chaguanas Magistrates Court yesterday.

In passing sentence, Connor said Mc Mayo betrayed the trust of the company to use their money to “buy cell phones and to pay for her luxuries.”

The charge, as laid by PC Andile Mohammed of the Chaguanas CID, alleged that between November 3 to November 10 at De Verteuil Street, Chaguanas Mc Mayo stole one RBC deposit bag containing $16,522, cheques valued at $15,048 and an assortment of LINX and VISA. She pleaded guilty.

Prosecutor Sgt Pooran Bisnath told the court that at about 1.30pm on November 3, Mc Mayo collected a bag of money from Bhagwansingh’s Hardware to be delivered to the RBC, Trincity branch. The company’s sales supervisor discovered the deposit was not made.

A report was made to the Chaguanas CID on November 15 and Mohammed investigated. Mc Mayo was arrested and admitted to stealing the money. She also told the police she gave $10,000 to a friend.

Bisnath told the court the cell phones and $1,500 were found at Mc Mayo’s home when it was searched. The cheques were not found.

Attorney Taradath Singh who represented Mc Mayo said she was remorseful for her actions. Pleading for leniency, Singh said Mc Mayo has two children, ages four and ten, and has been working at the security company for the past seven years. He said although her actions were not justified, she had found herself in financial difficulties. He said she got into an accident while on the job and was placed on 14 days sick leave but was not paid during that time.