A police station worker who stole $29,000 from a police officer while he was asleep at a police station is to know her fate today after she was taken into custody on Wednesday.

Fifty-eight-year-old Stephanie Benjamin — a resident of Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, who was employed at the station as a janitor — was remanded for sentencing by Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey after she pleaded guilty to simple larceny in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

According to police, on January 5 the complainant left his money along with other personal items on a bed and went to sleep. The complainant later awoke to discover that his money was missing except for a $1,000 note that was left on the ground.

The complainant then asked his colleagues if they had taken the money and they told him no. He then recalled that he had seen Benjamin in his room and went and asked her, but she denied taking the money. However, she began to act suspiciously and the complainant asked her a second time for the cash, which prompted her to show him the money that was hidden under the bed.

The matter was reported and she was arrested and charged.

On Wednesday when Benjamin appeared in court, the magistrate asked her, “Why shouldn’t I send you to prison for this?”

But Benjamin did not answer.

“The Bible is clear about those who decide to become teachers; you can’t work in a police station and go there and thief,” she then said to the accused.

“You don’t believe strongly that you should go to jail for this but I believe you should go. Stay with me until Friday and I will tell you what your fate will be,” RM Pusey told Benjamin before she was remanded.