Coach begs for return of stolen items

Samuel Lamount, the head coach for Jamaica's men's and women's national table tennis teams is desperately appealing for the return of items that were stolen from his car in March.

"I am urging the culprits who robbed me to take the money, but to return the other items," he said.

Lamount said his vehicle was broken into on March 8 and he was robbed of more than $1 million. However, he said the robbers can keep the money, but he wants them to return the valuable documents that they took.

"My passport with a valid visa, as well as a lot of expired visas to many countries, a large number of land, legal, and company documents, land titles, documents relating to multiple international campaigns [were taken]," he explained.

Lamount, who is also a recording artiste with the stage name Yoga Man, said the thieves took a flash drive containing new songs he was planning to release and a database that is important to the humanitarian work he does.

Since the robbery, Lamount says he has been distressed because he needs the documents to carry out his work, which involves helping numerous needy children and representing Jamaica on the international scene.

"I am distressed seeing that I need some of the money to help needy students and I need my passport to travel to make important arrangements for the World Environment and Peace Festival which is to be held in Jamaica this year," he lamented.

Since the items were stolen, Lamount says his work has come to a halt, and the students and organisations dependent on him are suffering.

Lamont is also the director of Reggae Land Arts, Sports, and Music Academy, which he says is a non-profit organisation aimed at providing an outlet for underprivileged children to showcase their talents in many areas. He says this entity is also suffering because of the robbery.

But Lamount's loss was also personal, as "I was also robbed of two table tennis rackets including my personal racket used to win a bronze medal at the World Masters Games in July 2005 in Canada and a silver medal for team Jamaica at the Latin American Championships in 2006 in Colombia," he said.

Desperate for the return of his valuable items, Lamount says he is willing to offer a monetary reward depending on the items he regains.

Anyone with information that can assist Samuel Lamount is asked to call him at 1-876-423-9158 or email him at slamount@yahoo.com.