Two young men who traded stolen jewellery for cash were yesterday given suspended sentences.Joshua Usher, 19, pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving stolen goods; Richai Young, 18, pleaded guilty to a single count.The jewellery was stolen from two Pembroke homes robbed on consecutive nights last November.Police officers discovered a quantity of jewellery matching the stolen items at the Bermuda Gold Exchange. Staff there identified Young and Usher as the men who traded in the items.A subsequent search of Young’s home revealed more jewellery stolen from one of the two houses.Crown counsel Larissa Burgess said both of the defendants had previous convictions for dishonesty offences. Usher was sentenced to three years’ probation months before the incident while Young still had the threat of a conviction hanging over him from a previous conditional discharge.“Clearly they have no respect [for] the court and being granted the opportunities of community-based supervision,” Ms Burgess said.Lawyers Kenville Savoury and Charles Richardson, who represented Young and Usher respectively, asked the court to be lenient with their clients. They noted their age and social inquiry reports recommending community sentences.Young told the court: “I made a mistake in thinking someone was my friend and did a favour for them. If granted the opportunity, you will never see me again. I’m willing to do anything to show that I’m sorry for what happened.”Added Usher: “I should have thought twice about receiving this jewellery as I have been in this situation before and I should have learned from that.“I’m asking for help. I know that I’m at that age where I should be helping myself but sometimes people need that next little extra boost to get them started and that’s what I’m asking for.”Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo said the defendants had said the right things in court, but expressed concern that they might be trying to game the system.“You look clean, you sound intelligent, but you are doing dumb things,” he said. “It’s difficult to believe that you didn’t know the jewellery was stolen when you have previous convictions for receiving stolen goods. You guys are too young to be throwing your lives away doing this stuff.”He said they both should be sentenced to custodial sentences for the offences but that given their personal circumstances and the recommendations of the social inquiry reports, he would suspended them.Young was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, with three months he’d already served taken into account. The remaining six months were suspended for a period of 18 months.Usher, meanwhile, was sentenced to a year in prison with his time already served also taken into account. The remaining nine months were suspended for 18 months.Both men were placed on probation with a series of conditions, including they spend 100 hours doing community service and wear electronic monitoring devices.