Paint thieves to repay former employer

Three former employees of a manufacturer have agreed to make restitution following their guilty plea to stealing $2.5 million worth of paint.

According to the complainant, the theft was captured on the store's surveillance camera, which saw the defendants Thadius Wignall, Natalee McLauren and Brandon McMorris pushing trolleys of paint out of the store and loading them into a motor vehicle. The surveillance footage was not shown in court as it was yet to be extracted by the company and given to the police for analysis. The incident is said to have happened in July 2023. The matter was first heard in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last September, where the three defendants were arraigned for simple larceny.

The complainant shared further that the defendants were able to gain access to the store's system and made changes to the stock count, in an effort to cover the theft.

"It's a really complicated system. We have a system for free goods and it has to be authorised and there was no authorisation given for these items. The store normally closes at 6 p.m., and this happened around 5:20 in the evening and you can see the closed sign on the door. They closed the store earlier than usual," the complainant explained. The person added that the store suffered loss from this incident, as the entire staff was fired and the store had to close for a few days.

"People of Jamaica, there are cameras everywhere. Stop making our lives hard. They are actually getting away because the police could have charged them with more. They could've been charged for access with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of an offence," Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell said.

Wignall, MCLauren and McMorris indicated their intention to make restitution to the complainant and had their bails extended until December 6 when payment is to be made. Sentencing was postponed until then and they were made subjects of a fingerprint order.

- T.T.