By Tashieka Mair, Star Writer

western bureau:

An attempt to seek a "better life" will cost 28-year-old electri-cian Jermaine Powell a lot more than what he bargained for.

Powell, who is from Man-chester, was arrested and charged after he attempted to leave Jamaica using a forged United States visa. He was fined $140,000 or six months after he pleaded guilty to uttering forged document in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Court files indicate that on August 4, Powell checked in at the Sangster International Airport to board an Air Jamaica flight to Philadelphia. He presented a Jamaican passport with a U.S. visa which turned out to be fraudulent.

Defence lawyer, Dalton Reid who mitigated on Powell's behalf, told RM. Wilson Smith that his client was not trying to leave the island for criminal reasons. He said Powell was going to work so he could make a better life for himself. He also disclosed that his client paid $30,000 for the document.

"His reason, while he went about this the wrong way, is a reasonable one, for want of a better life," said Mr. Reid.