Former prison officer Quacy Collins was yesterday sentenced to 25 months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to fraudulent conversion.
The charge read by Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court stated that between June 1 to June 30, being entrusted by Marceline McKay, he received a quantity of clothing, valued at $366,000, which he fraudulently converted to his own use.
Prosecutor Deniro Jones said that McKay is a businesswoman and in June Collins went to her and told her that he wanted to sell clothing for her. Jones said that Collins was given a span of two weeks to return the profits to McKay but she never heard from him. A report was made to police and he was arrested and charged for the offence.
Collins told the court that he did receive the clothing but was not given enough time to turn over any profits. He said that he had contacted McKay and informed her that he would like to give the clothing to a female friend of his to sell for him in the interior.
“She seh she nah like the bush thing but me in charge and me gotta know, so I go ahead and give the gal but me never hear back from her. I called and texted her phone and ain’t get no response,” Collins said.
He added that he along with his father went to the interior to search for the woman to whom he had given the clothing but their searches were unsuccessful.
Magistrate McLennan then asked him whether he would like to repay McKay and he said that he had made a proposal to pay her $20,000 per week, which she declined.
After he informed the court that he could not afford to pay McKay back, he then also said that he is a former prison officer and as such is not a flight risk.
He was subsequently sentenced to 25 months in jail.
