And tonight that shop owner, 47 year old Joshua Ashburn has been charged. We can confirm that police found 6 Chinese Passports and 5 Belize Immigration Stamps.
But, charges for that are still being worked on. Tonight he is being held on remand along with two others. Ashburn was charged along with 20 year old Keenen Anthony and 30 year old Mario Fernandez.
They are facing charges for the below items: a black Glock .40 caliber pistol along with two loaded magazines. Police also found 3 large plastic bags containing 16 pounds of cannabis in an oven.
The trio appeared before a Senior Magistrate where they were read four criminal offenses: one count of kept prohibited firearm and one count of kept prohibited ammunitions and two counts of possession of a control drugs with intent to supply.
In court only O' Connor was represented by Attorney, Sharon Pitts-Robateau while Fernandez and Ashburn were unrepresented.
The trio all pleaded not guilty to the kept prohibited firearm and ammunitions, Ashburn wanted to plead guilty to the two counts of possession of a control drugs.
He told the court he was guilty of possession simplicita but not with intent to supply anyone.
However the sitting Senior Magistrate of Court #6 told Ashburn that the charge before the court is for possession with intent to supply and so she could not accept a plea for a lesser charge and so his guilty plea was rejected. Fernandez told the court he only went there for work. He never knew drugs was at the yard.
Due to the nature of the offenses, the trio were denied bail and remanded to the Belize CentraL Prison until January 20, 2025.
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