By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A 23-year-old man who was found with $25 worth of marijuana must pay 20 times that amount to avoid spending a month in prison.
Police arrested Dario Dawkins after they found five grams of Indian hemp on him on August 12.
He pleaded guilty to one count of possession of Indian hemp when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.
The prosecution said officers on mobile patrol observed Dawkins walking on Ferguson Street in a suspicious manner. As a result, they approached him and informed him that he would be searched. During their investigation, officers found four clear plastic bags with marijuana in his front right pocket. Dawkins was arrested and taken to a nearby station where he admitted the offence in an interview with police.
Yesterday, Dawkins told the magistrate that he was smoking because he had family problems. He claimed his mother asked him to leave the house so he “bought something to smoke and chill out.”
After listening to his explanation, Magistrate Rolle Davis accepted the accused’s guilty plea and fined him $500. He warned him that if he failed to pay the fine, he could risk spending one month behind bars.
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