Cox was found unconscious at the scene of the burglary, after he fell from a beam. He said he knew nothing about the burglary and had gone on the beam to catch an iguana

A Biscayne resident who was caught red-handed burglarizing a building on Crocland, located at Mile 25 on the Philip Goldson Highway, was sentenced to seven years in prison at the conclusion of his trial before Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith this morning.

Ruben Cox, 43, maintained that he knows nothing about the burglary. In his defense, he told the court that he had climbed up on a slim beam, from which he fell.

Cox was found unconscious, and taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital by police, who were called in by the watchman at Crocland.

“I am no criminal,” Cox told the Chief Magistrate, ”I know nothing about any burglary.”

But in finding him guilty at the conclusion of the two-day trial, the Chief Magistrate told him that his story sounded like “a fairy tale.”

In April 2013, eight days after he fell from the beam, Cox had to be arraigned from his hospital bed, because he was suffering from a broken right hip and burst eye. When he was arraigned, he pleaded not guilty to the one count of burglary.

At the scene of the burglary, the watchman found Cox with a pair of pliers and some electrical wires that he had removed from the building, before he fell from the beam.

In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate told Cox, “The Crown’s case is that you visited Crocland illegally to steal; however, you said you got permission from the watchman, but he is not the owner of the place; he is only the watchman. You were there to steal electrical wires from the ceiling and pliers and wires were found in your possession. When you fell off the skinny beam, you became unconscious, and that’s when you were found on the ground with a bag containing wires and pliers.”

Cox, in his own defense, gave sworn testimony, telling the court that he had gone to Crocland to charge his cell phone. He said that the Crocland watchman, who he knows as a “Mr. Jose,” had given him permission to charge his phone.

And it was while his phone was charging that he claims to have seen an iguana on the beam. He called his brother, Ronald Cox, his only witness.

According to Ronald Cox, on the day in question, he said that he knew his brother had gone to Crocland to charge his cell phone sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. Ronald said that when 7:00 p.m. came and his brother did not return, he became concerned and began to look for him.

But his search for his brother ended after he met the Crocland watchman and was told that his brother had fallen off a beam and had been taken to the hospital.

Cox’s brother’s testimony in his defense was of no help, because he could not tell the court that his brother was not caught burglarizing the Crocland building, because he had not been with him.

Smith told Cox that anyone found guilty of burglary summarily, is liable to a prison term of no less than 7 years, but that the sentence can go up to 10 years.