By Breaking Belize News Staff: “$500 is no kind of money to me,” Roy Earl Jones said in an interview Friday after spending a night at the Belize Central Prison. The 24-year-old Belize City man walked free after sentencing, but the senior magistrate ordered him to repay a deliveryman $501 before paying another $1,435 in fines and court costs.
Jones pleaded guilty Thursday to seven counts of obtaining property by deception and was remanded overnight pending sentencing. He apologized in court and said he needed time to get a loan to clear his debts.
On Friday, the senior magistrate fined Jones $200 on each count and added $5 per count in court costs. He has until February 26, 2027, to pay the court, with a default sentence of two months on each count if he fails to pay. The magistrate told him the deliveryman must be repaid first.
According to the facts presented in court, the deliveryman agreed to use his own money to buy items and deliver cash to Jones’ mother on the understanding that Jones would pay him back. On September 29, he said he dropped off $100 in cash, then returned later that day with a $100 bag of dog food and another $40. The next day, he said he spent $50 on cereal and condensed milk and delivered another $50 in cash.
The requests continued into October. The deliveryman said he paid $20 for fried chicken from Benny’s Restaurant on October 6 and $29 for two orders of rice and beans with pork and two Cokes the next day. When he asked Jones on October 8 when he would get his money, Jones replied on WhatsApp, “Thank you for your patience.” The deliveryman said he still dropped off another $70 that evening, followed by $22 in barbecue meals on October 10 and another $20 in chicken on October 12.
The deliveryman told police he never got his money back. After repeated attempts to collect, he made his own inquiries and learned that the man he knew as “Rayjaughn” was Roy Jones. He reported the matter to police on November 9, and officers detained Jones two days later.
In handing down the sentence, the magistrate cited the seriousness and prevalence of the offence, the financial loss and the breach of trust. She also weighed Jones’ early guilty plea, his remorse, his lack of previous convictions and the night he had already spent in custody. She noted that although the transactions took place on different days, the seven counts arose from the same course of conduct.
In Friday’s interview, Jones called the deliveryman a friend and said their agreement gave him until that day to repay the money. He said he had not expected the deliveryman to go to police.
The post ‘$500 Is No Kind Of Money To Me’: Roy Earl Jones ordered to repay runman $501 and pay $1,435 in fines and court costs appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: “$500 is no kind of money to me,” Roy Earl Jones said in an interview Friday after spending a night at the Belize Central Prison. The 24-year-old Belize City man walked free after sentencing, but the senior magistrate ordered him to repay a deliveryman $501 before paying another $1,435 in
The post ‘$500 Is No Kind Of Money To Me’: Roy Earl Jones ordered to repay runman $501 and pay $1,435 in fines and court costs appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
