Theft after Obama's visit : Reports of the theft, which occurred a day after Obama left the island on April 9, and the subsequent arrest of 28-year-old Christopher Green, were kept out of the public until he appeared in court last Monday.

BY RACQUEL PORTER Observer staff reporter porterr@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, May 24, 2015  

AFTER successfully hosting President Barack Obama and his team during their official visit to the island last month, the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston was left embarrassed when one of its employees stole more than a dozen phones used by the US Secret Service.

The Secret Service is the security agency tasked with protecting United States presidents and is renowned the world over for efficiency and zeal with which its agents go about their duty.

Reports of the theft, which occurred a day after Obama left the island on April 9, and the subsequent arrest of 28-year-old Christopher Green, were kept out of the public until he appeared in court last Monday.

Green was kept behind bars from the day he was arrested until Monday when he was sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court to nine months' imprisonment.

The sentence was, however, suspended for two years, meaning that Green will not serve the time unless he commits a crime within the two years, for which he could be imprisoned.

"He didn't know what he was doing," attorney CJ Mitchell said in asking the court's mercy for his client.

"In my heart he should go to prison for stupidity," said Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey before imposing the non-custodial sentence.

Obama arrived in the island April 8 on a two-day working trip during which he visited the Bob Marley Museum, had bilateral talks with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and some of her Cabinet ministers, met with Caricom leaders, spoke at a town hall meeting at the University of the West Indies, and laid a wreath at the shrine of World War I and World War II veterans. more