LEIGHTON LEVY, STAR Writer

Mark Price, the brother of dancehall star Bounty Killer, was fined approximately J$260,000 (EC$6,000) after pleading guilty Monday in the Basseterre Magistrate’s Court to stealing a cell phone, reportedly a Blackberry smartphone.

Price appeared before Her Honour Josephine Mallelieu-Webbe. The fine is to be paid immediately or Price will serve time in a St Kitts prison. Under St Kitt’s Larceny Act, the maximum penalty for the crime is three years’ imprisonment.

Reports from St Kitts said half the money is to be paid to the State, while the other half will be paid as compensation to the complainant in the case, a customer-service agent at the RLB International Airport in Basseterre.

It was her phone that he stole as she assisted him in filling out an immigration form, while he and members of his brother’s entourage prepared to depart St Kitts for St Maarten en route to Jamaica on Saturday. Bounty Killer had performed at the St Kitts Music Festival held at Warner Park last Friday night.

The incident in which the phone was stolen occurred shortly before 9 a.m. the following morning. After the agent discovered her phone was missing, she alerted airport security who observed Price on camera taking the phone from a counter as he was about to leave for the departure lounge. It was there that security personnel accosted him and retrieved the phone from which the SIIM card and battery had already been