Tashieka Mair, Star Writer

western bureau

A 39-year-old Kingston man who obtained a Jamaican passport by using a false name was fined $150,000 after he pleaded guilty in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Cornelius Baites admitted to uttering a forged document and making a false declaration for which he was fined $75,000 on each count.

The 39-year-old father, who is expecting his sixth child, served five years in a United States prison for ganja charges, and was deported in September 2006.

The facts outlined in court are that he arrived at the Sangster International Airport on April 12 after being deported from Bahamas for possession of less than an ounce of ganja.

Baites had documents in the name 'Donovan Anthony Clarke' with an attached a birth certificate in his real name. He told the immigration officer that he had obtained a passport in February, using the false name, to travel to Bahamas.

Attorney Adrian Dayes in his mitigation plea, told RM Winsome Henry that his client did not have any criminal intention. According to him, his client was trying to escape from a "marred past", and asked for leniency to be extended to Baites.

"If you keep on making mistakes you will end up spending a long time in prison," RM Henry told the accused in handing down sentence.

Five years in prison should have taught you a lesson. Your lawyer said you are trying to escape your criminal past, but this has only added to it."

If the fines are not paid, Bates will serve six months in prison on each count. The sentences will run consecutively.