Magistrate Ayanna Baptiste-DaBreo sentenced a 19-year-old man to one year in prison after he was found guilty of burglary on July 16 in Magistrates’ Court.
Tevorn Stapleton, 19, was arrested on Jan. 1 under allegations that he broke in to a home where two residents were sleeping and stole $12,099 worth of cash, phones, and other items.
When reviewing the facts of the case, Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo said one of the alleged victims was sleeping and woke up to Mr. Stapleton rifling through her nightstand.
The woman has limited vision and couldn’t make a clear description of the perpetrator. However, Mr. Stapleton was fingerprinted as a suspect, and his prints matched ones lifted from a removed window louver by police Detective Forbes Washington, according to the magistrate, who said that the defendant had a scar on one of his fingers that was an exact match to one of the prints.
Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo said that similar offences usually warrant a sentence of nine to 18 months in prison. She explained that she came to her decision of 12 months because while the defendant is young, the aggregating factors of his offence far outweigh that fact.
The magistrate said that the house being occupied added most to the severity of the punishment because of the emotional distress suffered by the victims and the fact that someone could have been severely injured.
She also said that the act seemed premeditated because of the way the window louvers were carefully removed.
During the trial, Mr. Stapleton was removed from the courtroom for refusing to follow the orders of guards. While in the detaining room, he allegedly damaged a $235 switch on the wall.
He was charged for damaging property and pleaded not guilty. That trial is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.