Three homeless men arrested and jailed for various offenses

A homeless man who claims he sleeps next to his dead mother’s grave was jailed for a month after he pleaded guilty to trespassing.

Lester Johnson, 41, admitted to trespassing on the Eastern Road property of Jeffrey Maura.

The complainant gave police a still photo of the intruder on his property on April 28.

On April 30, callers contacted police about a man behaving in a suspicious manner in bushes.

Officers responded and arrested Johnson for vagrancy.

Johnson, who didn’t have a lawyer, said that he was looking for water.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes told Johnson, “Do not enter people’s yard without their permission. It may well happen that they come across you in their yard and they might decide to hurt you.”

The magistrate ordered Johnson to pay fines totaling $200 to avoid spending a month in prison.

He didn’t pay the fine.

Appearing in the same court was Mark Grant. The 50-year-old said he lives on Potter’s Cay Dock.

Police arrested him for violation of curfew after they found him walking the street on April 30.

Asked why he was away from the dock, Grant told the magistrate that he was being “pursued on foot by five males and a female”.

When the court asked if the police witnessed the chase, Grant explained that the people pursuing him were invisible.

The magistrate sentenced Grant to prison for two months.

Another homeless man was jailed for four months for stealing.

Tarin Brown stole a water pump from the Four Quarters Bar on Sapodilla Boulevard on April 28.

He sold the pump that’s worth almost $1,000 for $40.

Brown said he knew what he did was wrong but he needed the money to buy something to eat.

Forbes said, “You know it was wrong, but you did it anyway. So, you made a deliberate decision to go to prison.”

Brown said he didn’t consider the possible consequences of his actions.

Forbes said the sentence was to punish Brown and to deter others from similar behavior.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/05/04/three-homeless-men-arrested-and-jailed-for-various-offenses/