The suspect was identified as 29-year-old Crismar Alducente Otero, a resident of Purok 8, Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City.
“Daghan na ang nangari diri sa among station nga nag-inform nato nga sila nabiktima sad aning tawhana, gikawatan sad silag motor ani niya,” said Major Jonathan Beethoven Taneo, station chief.
(Many people have come to our station to inform us that the suspect had stolen their motorcycle.)
Otero’s latest victim was Dindo Gola, a delivery driver from Spolarium Street in Barangay Duljo Fatima in the same city.
He went to the station Thursday morning to report that his motorcycle was gone when he woke up around 7:30 a.m. He said he parked it by the side of the road when he got home around 1 a.m.
A witness said he saw a man with a lot of tattoos take the motorcycle, which prompted Taneo to lead a follow-up operation.
Taneo said they were able to identify Otero after checking the closed-circuit television camera in the area.
During their investigation, Taneo said they learned that Otero sold Gola’s motorcycle to Johnny Sankopan, a 25-year-old resident of Climaco Street in Barangay Pahina Central in the same city.
Police went to Sankopan’s house but the latter wasn’t there. However, they found Gola’s motorcycle and five others that they believed were also stolen.
Taneo said Otero was no stranger to police as he had previous arrests for illegal drugs, illegal possession of deadly weapons and grave threat.
Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, Cebu City Police Office directors, said it is possible that many cases involving stolen motorcycles will finally be solved with Otero’s arrest.
“Daghan gyud nga kaso ang masulbad ani kay unom na gani ang atong nakuha. Unsa pa kaha katong wala pa,” Dalogdog said.
(Many cases will be sold considering we already recovered six motorcycles. What about the others we have yet to find?)
Geneva Japitan, a 47-year-old resident of Sitio San Vicente, Barangay Bulacao in the same city, went to the station on Thursday to claim one of the recovered motorcycles.
Japitan told police that she last saw her motorcycle when she parked it on the night of December 27, 2022.
When it was gone the next morning, she said they immediately went to the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) thinking it had been towed but it was not found in the CCTO’s record.
The Mambaling Police Station will file six separate theft cases against Otero. (AYB, PJB)