IF THIEVES choose to rot their souls by neglecting one of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not steal,” they must also try their best not to land in jail by crafting their own edict, which could be written in this manner: “Thou shalt not use a stolen smartphone.”
In Barangay Inayagan, Naga City, Cebu, three alleged burglars, one of them a minor, were caught hours after they broke inside the house of their victim, 65-year-old Romulo Señor, around 2 a.m. Wednesday, March 24, 2021. The reason? Two of the suspects—the minor and Third Ponce de Leon, 18—used Señor’s one of his two cell phones, an iPhone, which the police located in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City through the device’s IP (internet protocol) address.
After the suspects’ arrest in Tisa at 11 a.m., the police caught the group’s alleged leader Jaycob Alia Tapuyao, 35, at 6:30 p.m. The arresting officers went back to their analog ways by interviewing the two suspects to capture Tapuyao in his current address—Sitio Almasen, Barangay Calamba, Cebu City.
Señor’s two cell phones were recovered from the suspects. However, his other valuables such as two units of power banks, laptop, Bluetooth speaker, bag, cell phone chargers, Rado watch and jewelry were not recovered. These items had been disposed of in Barangay Pasil before the arrests happened.
The victim’s savings amounting to P143,362 were also not recovered, said Police Staff Sgt. Raymund Romares.
The adult suspects will face theft, while the minor will also face a criminal complaint if the social welfare office determines he acted with discernment.
De Leon and the minor disowned Tapuyao, saying they only bought the iPhone from him. However, Tapuyao insisted that the two were his companions in breaking inside Señor’s house by detaching the jalousie blades of one of the windows. (GPL / KAL)