5 HS boys in QC robbery released; victim drops raps

The five high school students who were earlier arrested in Quezon City for allegedly robbing an accountant were released on Friday night after the complainant decided not to press charges.

PO2 Jogene Hernandez of the Quezon City Police District said Anthony Lozano, 28, withdrew the complaint after recovering the items he said were stolen from him by the teenage boys.

Four of the suspects are aged 15 and are classmates in a private Catholic school, while the fifth suspect is aged 16 and attends another school.

The boys claimed that the older student had bullied them into robbing Lozano, an accountant engaged in a multilevel marketing business, on Thursday night in Barangay Sacred Heart.

However, police suspect that the boys were only making up an excuse to avoid being charged.

Recovered from the suspects were the victim’s iPhone worth P30,000 and his iPad worth P30,000, as well as a screw driver, two bread knives and two bonnets. Lozano said the boys also took his cash worth P10,000.

Investigation showed that two of the boys first met with Lozano who was selling Universal loading cards at the Gateway Mall in Cubao. They then told the victim that they had colleagues interested in his products.

The purported buyers, however, failed to show up. When Lozano decided to go home, the boys said they would accompany him.

They were walking along Scout Fernandez Street when three hooded men, acting in connivance with Lozano’s two companions, appeared and declared a holdup.

The five suspects escaped in a black multicab but were later cornered by a police mobile patrol unit.