Man Pleads Guilty to Theft; Fined a Hefty Sum

A man who was caught stealing several items inside Simon Quan Store on Queen Street was ordered to pay thirty times the cost of the two items he stole after he pleaded guilty to the offense. Thirty-five-year-old Rashaan Kadeem Castillo, an unemployed of a Holy Emmanuel Street address in Belize City, was arraigned this morning in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Coney Drive on a charge of theft. Allegations are that on Wednesday, Castillo took a pack of chocolates valued less than five dollars and a pair of reading glasses, also worth less than five dollars. The magistrate imposed a fine of three hundred dollars, plus five dollars cost of court. The store owner reported that on Wednesday evening sometime after six, he was working at the cash register inside the establishment when he was alerted by one of his employees that there was someone shoplifting in the store. The store’s security guard searched the man and found the stolen items tucked under his shirt in his pants waist. Castillo has until April thirtieth to pay the fine, or he will spend three months in prison.