Carnapping charges were filed against an 18-year-old man from Negros Oriental who was accused of stealing four motorcycles. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police in Negros Oriental have filed carnapping charges against an 18-year-old man who was accused of stealing four motorcycles.
The suspect was identified as Reneboy Castro Rio Jr. alias “Kulot.”
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, chief of the Highway Patrol Group in Central Visayas (HPG-7), said that the suspect was identified through CCTV recordings.
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Rio, a resident of Brgy. San Antonio in Sibulan town, was arrested in Bacong town during a hot pursuit operation on August 28, after he alleged stole the fourth motorcycle.
Parilla said that Rio would normally take parked motorcycles while its owners were busy doing something else.
He stole his first motorcycle last July 22.
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Parilla said that the suspect borrowed the motorcycle while his friend was swimming on the river in Barangay Calayugan, Valencia town. But he did not return the vehicle.
Second victim
Parilla said that his second victim was a motorist who offered to help when the motorcycle that he drove started to malfunction.
The man helped Rio fix his motorcycle’s broken chain and even brought him to his home in Brgy. Bajumpandan to spend the night there.
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When the man woke up the next morning, Rio was already gone together with his motorcycle. The suspect left behind the broken motorcycle that he earlier took from his friend.
On July 29, Rio again stole a motorcycle that was parked in front of a woman’s home in Dumaguete City.
Abandoned vehicles
At around 10:30 a.m. on August 15, a concerned citizen called the police to report the sighting of two motorcycles that were abandoned in a vacant lot in Sambag, Brgy. Sacsac in Bacong town.
Upon verification, law enforcers learned that the abandoned vehicles were stolen. A witness also told police that she saw Rio driving the two motorcycles before they were left at the vacant lot.
At around 9 a.m. on August 27, Rio allegedly took another motorcycle from his fourth victim in Bacong before he was arrested the next day during a hot pursuit operation.
Parilla said that they now have custody of the suspect as they continue with their investigation to determine if he was working with an accomplice.
Meanwhile, the recovered vehicles will be subjected to macro etching examination.