3 spend New Year’s Eve in jail for burglary

Two men and a woman will be spending New Year’s Eve behind bars after police arrested them yesterday for burglary and possession of stolen goods in Cebu City.

They were accused of stealing contents of balikbayan boxes kept in a neighbor’s house in Francisca Village, Happy Valley, barangay Guadalupe.

Glezer Mahipos, 25; Sheryl “Lovely” Napoleon, 22; and Roel Hisoler, 22, are detained at the Cebu City Police Office.

Police said house caretaker Marieta Alfar, 42, discovered that 16 balikbayan boxes sent by her sister Marivic from Japan were missing last Dec. 29.

Marieta said the package contained bottles of imported wine, personal computers and shoes, among others.

She noticed they were missing while she was cleaning Marivic’s two-story duplex house in Francisca Village.

In a follow-up investigation, police interviewed the victim’s neighbor 19-year-old Jezel Catarinen, a cousin of Mahipos who lives with him.

Catarinen told police she saw balikbayan boxes in her cousin’s room and that his girlfriend, Napoleon, sold the imported items to friends.

The value of the stolen goods was estimated at P5 million, said Insp. Rolando Pinili, chief of the CCPO Theft and Robbery Section.

Police said Mahipos, one of the suspects, transferred to the next-door duplex unit in the third week of November.

He reportedly broke into the house through a window on the first floor. His girlfriend Napoleon arrived in their house yesterday dawn.

Police arrested her about 4 p.m. at Mahipo’s house, where three balikbayan boxes were recovered.

Upon investigation, Napoleon told police that her boyfriend was in her house in barangay Cabantan. At 5 p.m., police arrested Mahipos there.

The couple then told police that one of their customers was Hisoler.

Around 6 a.m., Hisoler was arrested at home in barangay Day-as, where police recovered a pair of Fila rubber shoes and two speakers, which were allegedly sold to him by Mahipos.

Hisoler told police he was unaware the goods were stolen.

Mahipos told police that for several weeks, he could see the 16 boxes from his bedroom window. He said he was tempted to steal the items, which he sold to friends in T. Padilla, Cabantan and Lapu-Lapu City.

Police said the inventory of the three recovered balikbayan boxes will be finalized tomorrow.

Appropriate charges will be filed against the suspects, said police./correspondent rhea ruth rossel