Today when the trio went to Magistrate's court in Belize City, we learnt that the shoplifting complaint had been withdrawn.
26 year old Elexa Chism, a Bartender of Austin, Texas, 29 year old Karim Osman, a Bar Owner and 45-year-old, David Blake Pendergrast - who says he is a lawyer - were arraigned in the Belize City Magistrate's Court charged jointly with the Immigration offense of failure to produce visitors permit on demand to an Immigration Officer.
In court today, they were all unrepresented and wasted no time in pleading guilty.
They were all fined $1,000 each which they were ordered to pay forthwith, in default 1 year imprisonment. They were able to pay the fine and were sent to prison.
A removal order was also granted for their expulsion from Belize, set for November 24, 2023.
That will give the Immigration Department time to get their travel documents in order through assistance from the US Embassy.
The trio claim they all failed to check in with an Immigration Officer when they arrived in Belize claiming they never knew they had to do so.
