Gas attendant sentenced to time served

A gas attendant who admitted stealing $600 from his employer and a $10 Massy Card has been sentenced to time served after spending 114 days on remand. Romarl Kimron Curtney John, 32, of Thornbury Hill, Christ Church, pleaded guilty to stealing $110 on May 27, $100 on May 29, $190 on May 30 and $200 on June 1, from his employer Zap Inc. He also admitted that between May 26 and June 3, he stole a $10 Massy Card belonging to Massy Stores. Prosecutor Sergeant Kenmore Phillips told the court that John’s duties included assisting customers with fuel purchases, collecting payments and processing transactions, including the use of Massy Card points. On June 1, the station supervisor received an email from an employee of the Massy Card section alerting her that a Massy Card had been used for a number of transactions between May 27 and June 1. The email said the account would be placed on hold while investigations were conducted. Checks revealed that 180 transactions had been recorded against the card and that 6 100 points had been accumulated. Of those, 6 000 were redeemed in 10 separate transactions amounting to $600. The receipts bore the initials ‘RJ’, and John was the only employee with those initials. CCTV footage was reviewed, and John was seen at the card machine appearing to process the transactions. On some occasions, he was seen accepting cash from customers and going to the machine, although he had not been given a Massy Card, credit card or debit card. He later submitted a receipt to the forecourt cashier instead of the cash received. The station manager subsequently reported the incident to the police. You Might Be Interested In Apologising to the court for his actions, John, who was represented by attorney Iwan Cuffy-Sargeant, said that since moving from St Vincent, he had been trying to make a living and was focused on becoming a better person and helping his family. Noting his remorse, Acting Magistrate Shakieda Sealy deemed him to have served his time and advised him to stay on the right path and out of trouble. “Going forward, do the right thing and make sure you stay out of court,” she warned. (JB)