US$2,100 hotel bill lands foreigner in jail

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

MONTEGO BAY, St James - An Estonian man, Stan Puust, a 26-year-old construction worker, is facing charges of obtaining credit by fraud after he found his way into an all-inclusive hotel where he allegedly spent a week, racking up a bill of US$2,100.

The accused man told the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court last Thursday that he was robbed of US$3,000 on the first day he arrived in Jamaica and was 'given' an armband that allowed him access to the hotel property.

He managed to gain access to a room by telling the housekeeping staff he had lost his key and was there for a week before he was discovered. He was taken into police custody on September 17.

Senior Resident Magistrate Winsome Henry asked that INTERPOL be contacted to find out if Puust was a conman.
Puust told the court he landed in Kingston by mistake as he did not know there was an airport in Montego Bay and then tried to get a taxi to take him to Montego Bay.

While on the way from Kingston he said the taxi was stopped by uniformed police who found ganja in the car and he was allegedly asked to pay them US$500.

He said after getting to Montego Bay and finding a hotel, he found out that the money he had stashed in his bag was also missing, but by then the taxi driver had left and he had no way of contacting him.

He told the court he had gone looking for food the next day when he met a man who gave him the armband, which he used to gain access to the all-inclusive hotel.

He said he had tried to make contact with friends in Estonia to send him money so he could pay his hotel bills, but had not been able to get through.

He was surprised when he was ordered remanded, as he said he had called Virgin Atlantic and made reservations to travel back to London and then on to Estonia on Thursday.
He will return to court on October 3.