Homeless Man Sent to Prison After Failing to Pay Old Court Fine

A 53-year-old homeless man is heading to prison, not because of his latest conviction, but because he could not pay an old court fine. Denroy Ingram was back in court today where he pleaded guilty to stealing more than two thousand dollars in items from a parked vehicle. Ingram appeared before a Senior Magistrate in Court Two of the Belize City Magistrate’s Court and pleaded guilty to theft. Police say that on October 29, 2026, he stole several items from the vehicle of 27-year-old Armando Reyes, which was parked on Craig Street. The blue Chevy Equinox was found with its door open during an early morning patrol. Reyes later reported that items were missing, including a pair of Nike tennis, bottles of syrup, a gold ring, a gold chain and a pocket knife, with a total value of two thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars. None of the items were recovered. When asked what happened to the stolen items, Ingram told the court he sold the tennis and had already spent the money. Although Ingram has previous theft convictions, the Senior Magistrate fined him eight hundred dollars plus five dollars in court costs instead of sending him to prison. He was given until January 29, 2027, to pay. However, Ingram already owed the court one hundred and five dollars from an older drug possession conviction. Unable to pay that fine, he was escorted to the Belize Central Prison to serve two months in default. Ingram is also still required to pay a separate one hundred and fifty-five-dollar fine from an October case involving possession of an article with a blade.