Post-hurricane fencers punished

PHILIPSBURG – The Common Court of Justice sentenced two men on Wednesday on appeal for fencing a large number of items in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Titus Leandro Maynard, 29, was sentenced to 180 days with 28 days suspended; Remi Leon Maynard, 57, was sentenced to a conditional 6-week jail term with 3 years of probation and 180 hours of community service.

Between September 5 and September 21, the day the defendants were arrested, they had a large number of items n their possession that obviously stemmed from post-hurricane looting. Police found handbags, curtains, electronics, a laptop, a flatscreen TV, two washing machines, refrigerators and other goods.

The court notes in the ruling that fencing under post-hurricane conditions warrants in principle an unconditional prison sentence. But for Remi Maynard, the court considered his personal circumstances to arrive at a conditional sentence: the hurricane had destroyed his company, and the suspension of his detention went well.

In the case of Titus Maynard, the court also considered that the defendant had been affected by Hurricane Irma. This was reason to impose a partially conditional prison sentence.