Blackberry Theft: Guest Worker Fined

November 29, 2011

In Magistrates Court this morning [Nov.29], communicating through an interpreter, 28-year-old guest worker Joao Miguel Santo pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a Blackberry Torch cellphone valued at $700, was fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $700 restitution.

Senior Magistrate Archie Warner was told that around 10:50pm on 30th September 2011, at the Tigermarket in Hamilton, the cellphone had been put on top of a cooler by a Digicel employee who had then left the store without it.

CCTV cameras had recorded Mr Santo as the person who had taken the phone and placed it in his pocket. The Blackberry has not been recovered.

Speaking through his interpreter, Mr Santo said that he was drunk at the time but accepted full responsibility and offered to pay for the phone. The Magistrate was told that Mr Santo was a labourer and had never been in trouble before.

Asked if he could have until tomorrow to pay the fine, and after explaining that he had not brought any money to Court but did have a bankcard that had a $1,000 a day limit; the Magistrate ordered that the fine and restitution should be paid forthwith or Mr Santo would remain in Police custody.

When last seen, under Police escort and with his interpreter, Mr Santo was striding rapidly down the street on his way to a bank to get the fine and restitution money

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Category: All, Court Reports, Crime, News

Comments (32)

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  1. Curious George says:

    Interpreter? Really.

    • Emeka47 says:

      yup, get in trouble and they all say ‘mee speakee no english’

  2. Really says:

    Really be consistent. If you allow this for 1 person do the same for the ones to follow. Let us see the Police escort others to the bank in the future.

  3. 5boro says:

    Didn’t a Bermudian get a two-year suspended six-month sentence for stealing a phone? I know the Bermudian had priors, but this guy was a drunken guest worker. Sounds like a slap on the wrist to me.

  4. joonya says:

    Another stupid fool…

  5. dee dee says:

    A labourer?? An interpreter? I thought guest workers had to speak English. My son is a qualified labourer and cant get a job! WTH!!!

    • Thoughts says:

      EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!! HORRIFIC.

    • eclectic tastes says:

      now that’s just shameful. no way that should be happening but unfortunately that is going to be the norm for a while.

  6. Jus' Askin' says:

    Send him home

  7. Somerset OG says:

    That’s probably the most expensive phone he will never buy! How untidy.

  8. Triangle Drifter says:

    A local woman steals well over $70K from a senior while living rent free in his house & only is ordered to pay $6K.

    A foreigner steals a $700 phone, worthless as soon as the service is turned off, & he is ordered to pay full value for the phone & is fined $2K, payable imediatly to boot.

    Is something not right here? What is wrong with this picture?

    • Thoughts says:

      I’ll tell you what’s wrong with this picture. Our brothers can’t find a job and DO SPEAK ENGLISH!

      • OMG says:

        Yea and it is “Our brothers” that do not work as hard or as long as the guest workers do!!!
        That is what is wrong. Ask any of the landscape & construction firms and they will tell you how many of “our brothers” have they dismissed.

        Change the work ethic of “our Brothers” and we will not need to have as many imported staff in our work force!!

        • Lissa says:

          Yeah – because some guest workers are willing to work 60-70hour weeks for very little pay. and then they live in their boss’ basement apartment…….

      • Lazy Fools says:

        It’s not that your brothers can’t find a job, its that they don’t want to do the jobs that foreign laborers are willing to do.

  9. Lil Jimmy says:

    He found a cell phone lets get that straight he didnt steal de thing ya’ll needa cut this foreigner stuff out a human being is a human being! He got a harsh penalty for finders keepers but now he knows to hand in things he finds.

    • Notorious says:

      Are you joking? You wouldn’t say that if it was yours. He didn’t buy it and he took it, that’s considered theft. If someone leaves their car somewhere with the keys in it you can’t just take it and say “fingers keepers”. What are you 12 years old? Yeah exactly hand it in or leave it where it was. He didn’t f’ing buy it so who is he to take it? It’s not his. That’s the type of ignorance that breeds this criminal mentality.

  10. Read the law says:

    Actually even if you find something you are required by law to report it to the Police who will give it 30 business days to find the rightful owner. If it is not found then it will go to the preson that found it. This should happen for all things that can be traced to an owner. SO HE STILL STOLE IT.

    For the lady whose son cant get a job but this none speaking man in Bermuda got to keep a labourers job I agree that is messed up. Maybe he should be reported to immigrations because this is the second time he has gotten in trouble. This will teach him to leave other peoples stuff alone.

    They should send him back because we already have Bermudians committing enough crimes here we dont need foreigners coming here to do it too. Especially when they are taking a job a Bermudian can do.

    • Thoughts says:

      Nicely put.

    • Rick Rock says:

      “….because this is the second time he has gotten in trouble”. Really? The report indicates he had never been in trouble before. You should maybe try reading the report.

      Look, he got a stiff fine and had to pay restitution. A Bermudian with prior convictions recently stole a cellphone, with clear intent to steal (unlike this case), and basically got off, with a “trying to turn my life around” story.

      By the way, if you want his job, apply for it. And if you don’t like the way immigration policies are being handled, vote for someone else to run it.

  11. Ashame says:

    The ridiculous stuff that time and Money is wasted on unbeliveable like the amendment to the carrot import law ,
    Makes u laugh till u cry , mean while the real murderers and robbers run free

  12. mixed up says:

    I feel that this is unreasonably harsh to be honest. He found it, didn’t take advantage of anyone or anything like that. I agree after considering the law that he should be made to replace the phone but a 2K fine is a bit ridiculous. All the man did was keep something that he found!
    For you guest worker haters out there, you need to realize that many of us Bermudians leave our Island for greener pastures as well. The world is too small to act like no one has a right to be here but us. And we ALL make mistakes regardless of where we may reside. Get off ya high horses people! This is just a simple innocent mistake. I’m sure most of you would have done the same. I personally feel sorry for this guy.

  13. jack says:

    he should be deported out of this country do not him give his job to a bermudian

  14. STEWEY BABCOCK says:

    Low hanging fruit is a temptation to people with a predisposition to steal , he got caught and he will leave that money in Bermuda . Merry Christmas Bermuda a fine gift from Miguel .

  15. Kim Smith says:

    It’s a hard lesson but I also think we need to be consistent and clear about what offences earn a one-way ticket out of Bermuda… versus those that don’t. It’s a little ridiculous right now how subjectively we seem to be when with sentences.

  16. TailorMade_412 says:

    Who cares if he found it and kept it why doesn’t the person who left it be more responsible and not leave their belongings all over the place. All you people on here getting all offended just because he is ah foreigner. STFU please because if you found ah torch your sure as hell going to keep it. Soo why don’t you think about what that average person would do before you start playing the non Bermudian bullsh!t. No one is perfect and he found it sitting there not like he went up to them and took it.

    • Average Person says:

      If I found a phone that didn’t belong to me I would hold onto it and try to get in contact with that person to tell them I found their phone. One time I left my phone somewhere by mistake and the person that found it did the same. Not everyone is like you, not all of us would steal a phone. We aint broke like you. So ya saying because the person forgot it somewhere they deserve to have it stolen. Dont you forget sometimes? You aint perfect either.

      People are mad at this dude because he is a guest worker that dont speak english and then he has the audacity to steal. Send his tail home. We have enough people here that cant speak english and commit crimes.

  17. Only in Bermuda!!!!
    Send him to the CAN!!!

  18. They should learn languages