A 59-year-old Barbadian man with a decades-long history of theft-related convictions has been handed another 18-month prison term, just months after completing a similar sentence for larceny. Troy Ryan Oneal Jordan, a resident of Vauxhall in Christ Church, entered a guilty plea this week at District ‘A’ Magistrates Court No. 2 to three counts of shoplifting stemming from an August 22 incident at the popular BJ’s Value Market location on Spooner’s Hill. Prosecutor Sergeant Kenmore Phillips detailed the sequence of events for the court, explaining that the alleged theft unfolded shortly after 9:30 a.m. that Saturday when Jordan entered the self-service grocery outlet. Surveillance and on-duty security staff, who already recognized Jordan from prior interactions, monitored his movements through the store after he made a beeline for the frozen meat section. According to Phillips’ account, Jordan placed a $104.78 pre-packaged ham directly into his personal backpack, before adding two $23.85 deodorants and a bottle of perfume valued at $12.45 to the concealed stash. Once Jordan passed all checkout points and approached the store’s main exit, the on-duty security officer moved in to intercept him. A search of his backpack immediately uncovered all four unreported items, leading to his arrest and subsequent court appearance. Speaking in his own defense during the hearing, Jordan told Magistrate Manila Renee that he had a change of heart mid-theft, claiming he was on his way back to return the concealed items when security stopped him. “I was stealing them but when I get to the front I tell myself, ‘Ya see this here? This is foolishness that I doing,’ and I was going to put dem back but I get hold before I could,” he told the court. Magistrate Renie, who originally sentenced Jordan to 18 months in prison on a separate theft charge last year, expressed frustration at the repeat offense, noting Jordan had only just been released from custody before committing the new shoplifting. “You are not learning. You were last here just last year and I gave you 18 months for something similar and you just got out of prison and back here again,” Renee said. The magistrate also pointed out that the vast majority of Jordan’s 39 prior criminal convictions are related to violations of the national Theft Act. Despite the pattern of repeated offending, Renee granted Jordan a sentencing discount for entering an early guilty plea that spared the court from spending additional time on proceedings. “You pleaded guilty at the earliest possible time and did not waste the court’s time and therefore I will give you 18 months even though you should be getting more time because as soon you got out you are back in trouble,” Renee ruled, handing down the new custodial sentence.