By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 19-year-old man was granted bail after being accused of helping a suspect in the 2023 $1.5 million airport heist evade custody.

That suspect has since been killed.

La-Shad Smith was arraigned before Senior Magistrate Kendra Kelly-Burrows on a charge of accessory after the fact to stealing.

Prosecutors allege that Smith knowingly helped Micheal Fox Jr — who was a suspect in the airport theft — in evading law enforcement between 2 November 2023 and 1 February 2024.

Fox, Jr, along with Oral Roberts, 34, and Akeil Holmes, 26, were named as  suspects in the armed robbery of a bank transport vehicle at Lynden Pindling International Airport in November 2023. Roberts was fatally shot in the Fox Hill area in July last year, and Fox, Jr, was killed in May.

Dino Smith was killed in January 2024. Neither he nor Fox, Jr, was formally charged before their deaths.

 Retired Chief Superintendent Johnson — former head of the Central Detective Unit — along with attorney Bjorn Ferguson and Sergeant Deangelo Rolle, are expected to stand trial in the Supreme Court in connection with the recordings linked to the case.

Johnson is accused of stealing $90,000 from the heist proceeds. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, stealing, receiving, and accessory after the fact to stealing.

Ferguson is charged with accessory after the fact to stealing, while Sergeant Rolle faces a charge of abetment to stealing.

Holmes, a former ICS Security officer, is expected to stand trial later this year on theft charges related to the airport robbery.

Smith pleaded not guilty to his charge.

He was granted $2,500 bail with one or two sureties. As part of his bail conditions, he must sign in at his local police station on the first Monday of every month.

His trial is set to begin on May 26.

Smith was represented by Ryszard Humes. Sergeant Vernon Pyfrom served as the prosecutor.