Man admits to stealing $3m from workplace
Published:Saturday | April 9, 2022 | 12:09 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
An accounts coordinator, who admitted to stealing approximately $3.2 million over a three-month period from a credit union to which he was employed, claimed he is unable to start making restitution as he has spent the funds.
Forty-seven-year-old Dwayne Latty was, however, given a week – until April 14 – to reimburse the complainant after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of larceny when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday.
The court heard that Latty stole the money from the Palisadoes Co-operative Credit Union between January and March 2021.
After pleading guilty, Latty was quickly advised by Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montaque that he will have to pay back the money as it was “appropriate in sentencing”.
“Where is the money, sir? the judge quizzed Latty.
“I used it for all sort of stuff over a period of time,” he replied.
“Like what other stuff?” the judge asked. “If you steal $3 million, you should be able to account for it. What you did with the people’s money?
“Sir, your liberty is hanging by a slim thread. Don’t waste my time. What you did with the money?” Cole-Montaque pressed.
“I used it for expenses over a period of time,” Latty replied.
He further told the judge that he was not in a position to start the payments as he had no cash in his possession, but that he intends to start as soon as possible.
But the judge told him, “No bother wid dat. My soon as possible is in the next hour.”
Latty then begged the judge to give him until the end of the month to accumulate the funds, but the judge ordered him to return next week with the funds.
The judge, in the meantime, added conditions to Latty’s $200,000 station bail.
He was ordered to be fingerprinted and to surrender his travel documents with a stop order imposed at the island’s ports. He is also to report to the police twice weekly.