He says he’s innocent, but owes several businesses

Keith Harris

A Belize City truck driver appeared in court this morning to face a charge of Theft for allegedly stealing a friend’s laptop. But forty-four year old Keith Harris was in way more trouble than he expected when four additional charges were levied against him. He first appeared before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer for the charge brought by his friend, Maria Belezaire who claims she loaned her laptop to Harris on December third and never got it back. He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail of one thousand, five hundred dollars, which he was unable to meet by midday and was escorted to the Queen Street Police Station. At two o’clock this afternoon, Harris was taken before Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith where the bad news poured in. He was charged with two more counts of Theft for allegedly stealing twenty-five thousand dollars in cash from Ature Matus as well as twelve forty foot containers valued at a hundred and twenty thousand dollars from Marine Services Company Limited between the fifth and eighth of October. Harris is also accused of dishonestly assisting with the disposal of the stolen containers and one hundred and fifty sheets of plywood valued at over nine thousand dollars, which were stolen from Judy Perez of Caribbean Tires. Those allegations resulted in two additional counts of Handling Stolen Goods. Chief Magistrate Smith was then offering Harris bail of a one thousand dollar surety and five hundred dollars cash. But one of the conditions was that he was to surrender his travel documents and he claimed he had misplaced his passport. And with no proof of address, his bail was revoked. The Chief Magistrate then addressed civil matters regarding monies that Harris owes money and hasn’t paid despite previous court orders. He owes over seven thousand dollars to Mikado, Joseph and Taylor Company Limited, Caribbean Tires, Monica Pawn Shop and was ordered to pay. His cases were adjourned until February sixth, 2013.