A 28-year-old woman, who told the court that she embezzled over $200,000 from her employer because she was experiencing “hard times,” was yesterday sentenced to 36 months imprisonment by a city magistrate.
Ronella Teshawna Junior pleaded guilty to a charge which stated that between March 1 and June 16, at Charles Street, Charlestown, George-town, while being employed as a clerk or servant at Midas Enterprises, she embezzled $219,900. The money was taken into her possession on account of Midas Enterprise, her employer. The charge was read to Junior by Magistrate Judy Latchman.
According to Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves, Junior was employed at Midas Enterprises’ Giddings Pay Day Pawnshop and Princess Raven Hotel as a receptionist, where she collected money for the business. However, during the period between March and June the owner noticed that the money was missing, when he made checks of the company’s records. The prosecutor said that this raised the owner’s suspicions and prompted him to review CCTV footage which showed the accused removing the money from a box. Gonsalves told the court that a report was later made to the police and Junior was contacted. The prosecutor said the accused admitted to the police that she took the money and said she was sorry for her actions.
Magistrate Latchman, before handing down her sentence, asked the accused why she took the money. Junior told the magistrate that she was in a situation and things were hard. She also said that while she was an employee she was on a probation period which paid little money. Junior also told the court that she would have worked to pay her employer back.
But the business owner, Paul Giddings, who was in court, said Junior was in the habit of stealing money from the company. He related to the court that he had already given her four chances. He said that after he had noticed what she was doing the first time, he moved her from one location to another, but she continued. According to Giddings, he heard that Junior was stealing the money to support a man and his five children.
