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Tonight, 31 year-old Deon Baltazar, 22 year-old Stanley Flowers, 20 year-old Shemar Castillo, and 21 year-old Whitflield Fisher are all at the Belize Central Prison after they were taken to court for allegedly breaking into a police officer's home and assaulting him and another man with a machete.

It happened last week Thursday. All 4 men are accused of trespassing into the home of Police Constable Jacinto Roches and Denise Smith, which is located in the Western Paradise Community at mile 8 on the George Price Highway. The men are also accused of pulling machetes on Roches and another police constable, Tony Gamboa, and threatening both men.  

They were arraigned today before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford on 2 counts of attempted burglary, and aggravated assault.  Flowers was additionally charged with theft for a pair of Nike slippers.

They pleaded not guilty, but on the strength of the objection from the police prosecutor, all 4 men were denied bail and remanded into custody until May 22nd, 2019.

Of important note is that when they were asked to give reasons why they should be granted bail, the men claimed that they were in the area hunting for Iguana. They say that 3 of them were shot in the legs by police even though they had already surrendered. They claim that these charges are trumped up, and they were prepared in the hopes of covering up the unjustified use of force.