Bar operator to serve nine months for cocaine bust if fines paid
Published:Friday | July 18, 2025 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Oral Johnson, who was held with 23 pounds of cocaine during a police operation in Coral Gardens, St James, on April 26, 2022, was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment in the St James Parish Court on Wednesday.
Johnson, a bar and restaurant operator of a Westmoreland address, was also ordered by presiding judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce to pay $4.5 million in fines. He was recently found guilty of possession of, dealing in, trafficking, and taking proprietary steps to export cocaine. During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Johnson’s lawyer, Martyn Thomas, asked the judge to be lenient, citing Johnson’s good social enquiry report, medical issues, and dependent children.
“He is the father of three children, two of whom are still dependent on him for support. I have read the social enquiry report on behalf of Mr Johnson, and I commend it to you as a good report,,” said Thomas.
“He suffers from a serious ailment, and I am not sure if this is an ailment that can be treated effectively where he is. We had hoped to have the doctor here today, but he could not be here today,” Thomas continued. “I ask you to take into consideration that he has no previous convictions, that it is his first offence, and that his probation officer indicates that his risk of reoffending is low.”
Handing down the sentence, Grant-Pryce said that while she would give him a reduced sentence due to his mitigating circumstances, she had not seen any suggestion of remorse on Johnson’s part.
“I am sending Mr Johnson to prison, but I have taken his medical condition into account, and I have also taken into account the fact that he has young children that are dependent on him, and all of that would act as mitigating circumstances,” said Grant-Pryce.
Johnson was sentenced to a mandatory nine months in prison for possession of cocaine and taking steps to export cocaine, plus a fine of $1.5 million or an additional nine months on each of those charges. He was ordered to pay $1.5 million or serve nine months for trafficking cocaine, and he was admonished and discharged for dealing in cocaine.
If the fines are paid, Johnson’s prison terms will run concurrently. If they are not paid, Johnson’s prison terms will run consecutively, or one behind the other.
On April 26, 2022, Johnson was seen sitting in his parked motor vehicle in Coral Gardens for approximately 20 minutes. When the police accosted him, he reportedly gave conflicting explanations as to why he was in the area, first claiming that he was looking for a friend and then that he had come to collect money from a woman to whom he had sold fish.
Johnson’s vehicle was subsequently searched and nine packages with cocaine were found.
His arrest took place during the same police operation that led to the seizure of US$3.8 million and CDN$30,000, valued in local currency at a combined $600 million, at a three-storey house in Coral Gardens.