Non-custodial sentence for property manage convicted in major drug bust

A property manager who pleaded guilty to several charges related to a US$500,000 or approximately J$76 million drug bust in St Andrew last year has dodged a prison sentence.

Instead, Allen Patrick Constable, 63, was fined a total of $3,290,644 during a sentencing hearing at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Friday, his attorney Odane Marston confirmed.

Constable was fined $2 million or 24 months in prison for trafficking cocaine; $1 million or 12 months in prison for possession of cocaine; and $290,644 for the offence of using premises for the storage of drugs.

He was immediately taken into custody pending payment of the fines.

Marston told The Gleaner he was unclear whether the fines have been paid.

Constable was also given a 12-month suspended sentence for possession of ganja by presiding Parish Court Judge Paula Blake Powell.

Blake Powell noted, during the hearing, that Constable was gainfully employed but still involved in drugs, raising the question of greed.

She indicated, too, that she took into account the fact that he has a drug-related conviction in the United States and whether his involvement in drug activities formed part of a lifestyle.

Marston had earlier urged the judge not to impose a custodial sentence, noting that his client pleaded guilty early in the case, spent four months in custody before he was released on bail, is suffering from “severe” health conditions and that the offences were non-violent in nature.

The attorney said his client has been “quite contrite” about his actions from the outset and demonstrated that by saving taxpayers’ resources by pleading guilty and avoiding a trial.

Marston said Constable respects the sentences imposed by the court “and I hope this is a teachable moment for him”.

The police report that a team intercepted a Toyota bus at the entrance to Charlton Court apartment complex in St Andrew on January 8 last year.

A search of the vehicle and an apartment inside the complex revealed 122 parcels of cocaine weighing approximately 272 pounds with an estimated street value of nearly US$500,000.

Prosecutors presented evidence showing that during a secondary operation later that day a barrel containing 45 pounds of ganja was found at another property he either owned or controlled.

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