The police have warned the public against filing false car-theft reports after they filed a complaint against a man who reported the loss of his vehicle but was later found to be lying.
Senior Superintendent Ferdinand Villanueva, chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) anticar theft unit, said that Alexander Peralta, a 49-year-old businessman from Caloocan City, was charged with perjury before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office Tuesday.
This was after he confessed that he lied about the loss of his car, a brand-new white Kia Rio (POE 123).
Based on the report he filed with the police, Peralta said that his car was stolen on December 22 while it was parked outside a drug store on Susano Road in Novaliches, Quezon City, sometime between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
He reported the theft the following day to members of the QCPD Station 4.
However, Villanueva said that investigators Police Officer 3 Erickson Isidro and PO2 Dennis Telen became suspicious when they observed Peralta’s “unusual nervousness” as they were asking him about the loss of his car.
At one point, Peralta suddenly started crying and singing a different tune.
“He broke down and admitted that he had pawned the vehicle to a man from a casino for P100,000,” Villanueva said.
Peralta confessed that he thought of filing a fake report because he did not have the money to redeem his car.
According to Telen, this was not the first time that they filed a perjury charge against a supposed car-theft victim.
“Some always try but we are very rigid [about] questioning supposed victims because insurance companies can also hold us liable for false claims,” he said.
“We do not want to be accused of being in cahoots with car owners so we do not quickly issue police reports on stolen cars,” he added.
The assistant city prosecutor has recommended bail of P6,000 for Peralta’s temporary liberty.