He tried to bribe a cop…but instead got busted

He was stopped for a relatively minor traffic offence but an attempt to bribe the arresting officer has cost a Corozal man an extra thousand dollars. Forty-two year old Mark Daniels of G Street in that northern town tried to pay off Corporal Ignatius Nicholas on Friday night after he and a female companion were stopped during a regular police patrol – but Nicholas wasn’t buying. The incident occurred shortly after eleven while the two were travelling on the Northern Highway near Santa Clara Village. Daniels offered Corporal Nicholas five hundred dollars on the condition that Daniels didn’t charge the driver, thirty-three year old Maria Orellana, who was driving his pickup without a driver’s license. Daniels, who pleaded guilty to Attempting to Bribe a Police Officer, was fined a thousand dollars plus an additional two hundred dollars for allowing Orellana to drive without a license. Both fines are to be paid by March thirty-first or Daniels will spend fourteen months in prison. Meanwhile, Orellana, a Guatemalan residing in Orange Walk Town, was also fined after she pleaded guilty to Driving without a Valid License and Driving a Vehicle not Covered by Third Party Insurance. She was ordered to pay a total of five hundred dollars forthwith for both offences, which she did promptly. She was further disqualified from driving for twelve months. In case you were wondering what happened to the five hundred dollar bribe…that money was forfeited to the government treasury. In court, Daniels’ explanation for the incident was that he was simply teaching his lady friend how to drive.