Londres charged for kidnapping despite couple’s desistance

By: Chito O. Aragon, Minerva B. Gerodias January 23,2016 - 12:35 AM

Despite the issuance of an affidavit of desistance by the parents of the stolen baby, a kidnapping case was still filed against call center agent Melissa Londres yesterday.

Prosecutor Raul Cristoria, in his resolution, stated that the affidavit of desistance did not say that the kidnapping did not happen.

“The allegations against her have not been controverted.  There is nothing in the mentioned affidavit of desistance that says the fact from which the alleged crime occurred did not exist,” read

Cristoria’s resolution dated Jan. 21, 2016 and approved by OIC City Prosecutor Maria Luisa Ratilla.

Cristoria also did not find probable cause to indict Londres’s boyfriend, Philip Winfred Almeria.

“There is no independent evidence to show that there was an agreement between the respondents to steal the baby,” the resolution stated.

Almeria was released from detention last Thursday while Londres was brought to the Cebu City jail yesterday by the elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG-7) after

Regional Trial Court (RTC) pairing Judge Ricky Jones Macabay issued a commitment order.

Londres and her family expected her release yesterday after Jonathan and Jayvee Celadania signed the affidavit of desistance out of “unconditional forgiveness.”

Londres did not talk to the media when she was escorted to the hospital for a check-up before she was brought to the city jail.

Her mother, Mary Jane, was surprised by the prosecutor’s resolution.

Londres, dressed in white scrubs, stole a newborn at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center on January 4 by telling the mother that she was going to bring the baby to the laboratory for his anti-dengue shot.

Londres was arrested in less than 36 hours. After initially insisting that the baby was hers, she admitted that she stole the baby to make her boyfriend stay.

Last week, Londres’s mother begged the Celadania couple to forgive the call center agent.

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TAGS: Cebu, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Melissa Londres

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