$400 fine for writing a bad cheque

Writing a cheque in the name of her dead father landed a Smith?s woman in court.

Debra McCracken used a Bank of Bermuda cheque in the name of William McCracken to pay for $42 of fuel at Paget Gas Station.

But the court heard he died in 1998.

Police started investigating the payment after staff at the gas station tried to cash the cheque three days later ? only to be told that the account had been closed for several years.

McCracken admitted two deception charges relating to the gas station payment on April 3.

Representing herself, the Lightbourne Lane resident said she was in a ?desperate situation? when she wrote the fraud cheque. ?I?m very, very sorry for it,? she said, adding that she planned to repay the gas station.

McCracken, who the court heard had no previous convictions, was fined a total of $400 when she appeared in Magistrates? Court.

Social inquiry report ordered for teen offender

A social inquiry report was ordered for a CedarBridge student who admitted stealing over $2,500 from Hayward?s Grocery Store.

Synday Harold Woods, 18, of Middle Road, Warwick, pleaded guilty in Magistrates? Court last Tuesday to stealing $2,503.04 from White?s Supermarket on Middle Road, Warwick on May 23 after Police found $900 of the money in his pocket.

Crown counsel Oonagh Vaucrossen said the money was taken from a cash register, counted, placed in an envelope and put in an unlocked safe.

Ms Vaucrossen also said Woods was later left on his own near the safe to print labels, at which point he took the money from the safe and exited the office unnoticed.

However, after the money was discovered missing, the part-time supermarket employee confessed that the remainder of the money ? as well as $280 worth of cheques and credit card receipts ? were hidden in a communal locker at the shop.

After Police searched the locker they recovered $1,722, Ms Vaucrossen said, as well as the cheques and credit card receipts.

Police took Woods in for questioning at which point he admitted to the crime. Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner released Woods on $2,000 bail, with one surety, to appear for sentencing on July 26.

Man fined for heroin possession

A Sandys man pleaded guilty to heroin possession yesterday in Magistrates? Court.

Jermaine Pearman of Ireland Island admitted to possessing 0.32 grams of heroin on August 6, 2004.

?I was going through a phase at the time ? experimenting,? he said. ?I got caught up a little bit but I see where I made my mistakes now.?

The 33-year-old was fined $1,000 for his crime.

$200 fine for stealing two beers

On June 19 a Sandy?s man stole two Amstel beers from a Paget grocery store.

Winston Reid Edness admitted yesterday in Magistrates? Court that he put two beers in his helmet and walked out of the Modern Mart store in Paget. The 52-year-old was fined $200.

Homeless man fined for attempted theft

A homeless man has been fined $300 for attempting to steal a hair brush and parking vouchers from a car.

Michael Francis Antonition, of no fixed abode, was found sitting in the complainant?s passenger seat when she opened the driver?s door of her car on Pitts Bay Road, Pembroke at 5 p.m. on June 8.

The court heard Antonition asked the complainant: ?Can you help me get something to eat??

When he got out of the car the complainant noticed that he had taken her parking vouchers and hair brush from the glove compartment.

When she commented, he placed the items, valued at $17.50, back in the car and walked away.

In Magistrates? Court last Wednesday, the 44-year-old defendant apologised for his actions. He admitted the theft charge.

?I was intoxicated at the time,? he said and explained that he had sat in the car to rest after urinating on the lawn.

Teen admits unlawful cashing of cheque

A teenager who cashed a $591 cheque that did not belong to him must wait to see what punishment he faces after admitting to the crime in Magistrates? Court.

Travon Che Saltus pleaded guilty to four connected charges relating to the unlawful cashing of a Government cheque that had been sent from the Department of Children and Family Services as foster care fees.

The court was told that Saltus had collected the cheque between December 21 and January 5 and taken it to the Somerset branch of the Bank of Bermuda where he cashed it by falsely claiming he had permission to do so.

Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said it was only when the rightful recipient had questioned the Department of Children and Family Services as to why the cheque had not arrived that she was told it had been posted and cashed.

Saltus, 17, of Beacon Hill, Sandys, admitted to Police he had cashed the cheque and used the money to buy items for himself.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner asked for a social inquiry report on Saltus and bailed him for $1,000 to return to court on July 20.