American man gets nine months for cocaine; fined $300,000
AN American national was on Monday sentenced to nine months imprisonment after he was caught trying to leave the island with 2.6 pounds of cocaine.
In addition to the prison term, 32-year-old Douglas Philips of an Atlanta, Georgia address, was ordered to pay a fine of $300,000 or spend a further 12 months in prison.
Phillips’s sentence by Magistrate Lorna Shelly Williams came on the heels of his recent guilty plea in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court to cocaine-related charges.
The court was told that on July 8, Phillips checked in at the Norman Manley International Airport to board a flight destined for New York. During security procedures, a one-strap bag he was wearing was searched and the cocaine found in two false compartments.
According to the police, Phillips was unrepentant, when cautioned upon his arrest. “I don’t know why you are making such a big deal of this; a Babylon rule. One time cocaine was legal but you people change the rule. I have no regret for this,” according to a police report of the incident.
“I know it is mine, it’s not the first time I’m doing it. I’ve done it before, but you caught me this time around,” the report further quoted Phillips.
Phillips was attending university in Jamaica.
