( Observer) A former police officer will be spending the next three years behind bars with some of the very criminals he may have helped to put away.
Yesterday, Justice Ann-Marie Smith sentenced ex-cop Joshua Quinland to three years imprisonment for taking monies given to him to purchase a vehicle and using it for his own benefit.
Quinland was found guilty of fraudulent conversion after a brief trial in the High Court in November.The Willikies man, who was also a car broker, was hired by the complainant to import a vehicle for him.
The complainant gave Quinland around $7,500 as a down-payment towards the purchase of a white 2008 Honda Stepwagon, but he never received the vehicle, neither did he get his money back.
According to the Crown’s case, the defendant never ordered the complainant’s vehicle, but he forged documents to convince him that he had done so.Defence lawyer Sherfield Bowen said his client did not have a case to answer, but the judge disagreed.During the trial, the convict told the court that the complainant asked for a white Toyota Noah van and a black Stepwagon, both of which he claimed to have ordered.
He said that the vehicles arrived but were sold by the port because the alleged victim did not meet the payment requirement.He also said that the police, at gunpoint, destroyed all of his contracts, invoices and other proof of the transactions between him, the Japanese dealership, and the complainant.
His story did not hold up in court so he was found guilty and remanded until his sentencing hearing.
He will be serving 43 percent of the maximum sentence – seven years.
