Attorney gets her car back and fence has to pay

PHILIPSBURG – Attorney Dagmar Daal got her car back and the man who was found with it in his possession was sentence in the Court in First Instance on Wednesday morning to 120 hours of community service and to the payment of $5,120 in damages. The court acquitted Trevor Joseph Richardson, 27, of theft, but sentenced him for fencing the car.

Daal’s car was stolen back in July of last year but it was only found back in front of Richardson’s house in October.

“I bought the car and I thought it was clean,” the defendant told the court.

The public prosecutor said that Richardson had paid $3,500 for the car that had an insured value of $13,000. “He bought it for a remarkably low price and he did not have the keys because he had not paid in full.”

While Richardson claimed to have bought the car from a garage on the French side, his mother told investigators that he had bought it “from a Dutch woman who had returned to the Netherlands.”

The defendant’s girlfriend told investigators that she had paid the purchase price of $1,000.

The VIN-number on the car matched that of Daal’s car.

“There are too many contradiction with the statements of the mother and the girlfriend,” the prosecutor said. “I assume that the defendant knew or must have known that this was a stolen car.” He asked the court to acquit Richardson of theft but to sentence him for fencing to a 4-week conditional prison sentence, 120 hours of community service and 2 years of probation.

The prosecutor also asked the court to grant the claim Daal had submitted for damages to the tune of $5,120 and to impose the compensation regulation.

Attorney Marlon Hart told the court that his client had invested money in repairs to the car and that he had taken a good look at the vehicle before he bought it. “You cannot say that he took the considerable risk that he was buying a stolen car.” The attorney asked the court to deny the claim for damages and to acquit Richardson of the theft and fencing charges.

The judge found Richardson however guilty of fencing, “based on the weird story that the car was parked at your house and that you don’t have proof of purchase or a key.”

The judge granted the claim for damages, imposed the compensation regulation and sentenced Richardson to 120 hours of community service.