He robbed his neighbour; will do 8 ½ years

A Salvadoran man from San Andres Village in the Corozal District will spend the next eight and a half years behind bars after making the mistake of robbing his neighbour. Forty-three year old Juan Mejia was arraigned today in Corozal Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to Aggravated Burglary, Possession of an Imitation Firearm and Possession of eight point three grams of cannabis. Mejia held up his next door neighbour, fifty year old Asucena Tesecum, around ten forty-five Monday night. Tesecum told police someone called her name by her front door and when she went to check, a tall man wearing a green mask and bearing what looked like a machine gun charged inside. The man robbed her of over nineteen hundred dollars in cash, five gold rings, a gold bracelet and a cellular phone. Tesecum told police that aside from her assailant’s height which was around that of her next door neighbour, she also recognised his voice. When police searched Mejia’s house about an hour and a half later, they found four pieces of the stolen jewelry and her cell phone as well as two hundred and seventy-five dollars. The search also unearthed a toy machine gun and a green mask which Tesecum also identified as those used in the robbery. Mejia was sentenced to seven years for Aggravated Burglary, an extra year for the toy machine gun and six months for the drugs. Presiding magistrate was Leslie Hamilton and prosecutor was Sergeant Francisco Ack. Mejia was undefended in court.