By PAVEL BAILEY
A POLICE officer testified yesterday in the ongoing trial of a former employee of Solomon’s Fresh Market, who is accused of stealing $342.50 worth of groceries.
Vashnique Rolle, 28, of Pinewood Gardens, is on trial before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney.
The prosecution alleges that on November 17, 2021, Rolle, while working at the cash register at the store’s Harbour Bay location, was caught on surveillance video stealing hundreds of dollars worth of assorted groceries.
The lead investigator in the incident, Sergeant Gerard Miller, told the court that on November 21 he conducted an official interview with Rolle in the presence of her attorney Alleecia Delancy.
During this interview, video footage was shown of a light-skinned woman — alleged to be Rolle — cashing out items for purchase for two unidentified male suspects without receiving any currency for the transaction.
After being shown the footage, Rolle gave a no comment response to questions of her being the cashier in the video and also gave no comment to questions of her not properly cashing the items presented to her for purchase.
Sergeant Miller then said by the end of the interview, the defendant elected not to give a written statement under caution. He said after Rolle and her attorney read over the police record of interview, they refused to sign it.
A receipt related to the incident was shown in court detailing exactly what items were allegedly stolen.
During cross-examination, Ms Delancy asked Sgt Miller exactly what items were stolen from the store. The officer said he could not exactly recall without having the receipt in front of him, but explained they were assorted groceries items, including juice and fruits.
Ms Delancy also asked if he had ever shown the defendant the receipt, which he also could not recall. This led Ms Delancy to suggest he never showed this evidence to her client.
She further questioned the officer as to whether any of the groceries in the footage had been found to which he responded that up to this point nothing has been recovered. He also said to his knowledge no search of Rolle’s home had been conducted.
Ms Delancy then asked Sgt Miller if he had ever spoken to Gilbert Lloyd, to which the officer said he had no knowledge of this individual.
Ms Delancy then explained to the court that Mr Lloyd had a charge account at the store. She then suggested that while her client was accused of stealing she was actually conducting a transaction on Mr Lloyd’s charge account.
Ms Delancy finished her arguments by suggesting that Sgt Miller had charged her client without sufficient investigation. The officer responded to this claim by saying he did in fact conduct a thorough investigation of the matter.
Rolle’s trial was adjourned to April 12.
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