A man accused of stealing a motor vehicle from a Montego Bay businessman received a one-year prison sentence when he appeared in St James Parish Court last Friday.

Parish judge Sasha Smith-Ashley handed the sentence to Fidel Ferguson via the Zoom platform.

Ferguson, 36, of a Mountain View address in Greenwood, St James, was slated to be sentenced on January 6 but the social enquiry report was not prepared. He was being represented by attorney Suwayne Phillips.

According to the allegations, on July 18 the complainant woke up to find that his 2015 Toyota Axio was no longer in his driveway. The GPS tracking system on the vehicle showed it was located in the Spot Valley area, yet he was unable to locate it. However, he did recover some of his personal belongings.

He continued to monitor the vehicle’s movements and discovered it was in the Greenwood area.

The complainant sought assistance from a cop he knew, who met him in Greenwood. They proceeded to a densely vegetated area where the complainant recognised his vehicle.

The off-duty cop was given information by someone nearby, which led them to a location metres away from the complainant’s vehicle where Ferguson was seen with a male companion in a white Nissan car.

A second white Nissan with no registration plate was also spotted in the area.

The men were ordered to leave the vehicle by the cop, prompting a man identified as Blacks to flee from a nearby residence and hide in the bushes next to the parked vehicles.

After closely inspecting the vehicles it was discovered that the ignitions on all three had been completely removed.

The complainant later discovered additional personal items in the house from which the man had fled.

Ferguson, under caution, reportedly said, “Officer, you have to talk to Blacks about this because he is the one who causes me to be here.”

He was subsequently arrested and charged with larceny of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property.

Ferguson was also one of the five inmates who escaped from police custody at the Barnett Street lock-up on December 14, 2024 and who was recaptured the following day.