One man charged for $60,000 Western Union burglary

It was a big step for Western Union when they moved into their new offices on Coney Drive, but the bigger news was that the building was burglarized only a week later, on August twenty-ninth. The loot was initially reported at sixty thousand dollars but when the suspect in custody was taken to court, the amount totaled just over fifty thousand five hundred dollars. There were, however, several cheques inside the stolen safe that could make up the difference. The accused is forty-one year old Basil Willis, who has twenty-eight previous convictions to his name. Willis appeared in Magistrates’ Court today where he was charged with the Burglary of Western Union and the Robbery of the security guard that was on duty. He pleaded not guilty to both charges and asked to address the court. He then claimed that he was “being punked” by the police because when he was detained, he only had a hundred and twenty dollars in his possession. Willis claims he was asked to participate in an identification parade and agreed. He is alarmed to now be accused of being among the group of men that broke into the Western Union Office and stole the entire safe, which contained the cash and cheques. It is also alleged that the burglars robbed security guard, Ray Villagran, of his hand held radio as well as his uniform shirt and cap before taking off.