By MCT Information Services/Palm Beach, Flordia
A former Lake Worth, Florida, bank teller and now an aide to Haiti’s first lady has broken his silence regarding the 2007 incident that has made him a fugitive in Florida, calling the case a “misunderstanding.”
Leaders of a Haitian human rights’ group, however, are calling for his resignation.
News of Karl Jean-Jeune’s fugitive status has been a topic of discussion on Haitian media outlets both locally and in Haiti since The Palm Beach Post this week reported that Florida prison officials said Jean-Jeune had absconded from a probation sentence he was supposed to be serving for a 2007 case.
Deputies say he admitted to stealing $27,800 in cash from the Washington Mutual Bank branch where he worked.
Jean-Jeune - who violated his probation more than a year into a six-year probation sentence that could have ended early had he repaid the bank - declined to comment on the case when reached by phone in Haiti.
But he posted a letter on the blog of friend and popular Haitian radio and TV personality Carel Pedre, calling the case a “misunderstanding” and saying he’s had a lawyer working to resolve the matter since October.
The letter was written in French but translated into English and posted on the Orlando, Florida-based Haitian culture news site Defend.ht.
“My lawyer has taken all measures to settle my affairs, long before the media made it into a scandal,” Jean-Jeune, 26, wrote, adding that he will continue working until the matter is resolved.
At this point, according to local prosecutors, resolving the matter will require Jean-Jeune to surrender.
It’s unclear whether Jean-Jeune’s attorney had tried to contact local prosecutors before this week, but Palm Beach county state attorney’s office spokesman Mike Edmondson said prosecutor Ryan Kelley received a call from an attorney for Jean-Jeune.
“I think the extent of the conversation from his end was: When your client surrenders to authorities, then we can have a conversation,” Edmondson said of Kelly’s response.
Although Jean-Jeune pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree grand theft and was sentenced in February 2008, the warrant for his probation violation wasn’t entered into court records until June 2009 - a possible sign that Jean-Jeune made an effort to serve his sentence.
But Maribel Ferrer, a Miami-based spokeswoman for Chase Bank, said it would be difficult to quickly figure out how much Jean-Jeune has repaid since the case was prosecuted before Chase acquired Washington Mutual.