Fired worker caught with boss’s Gucci, Bulgari, iPod
Days after being fired from his job at an off-track betting station, Mark Anthony Valencia, 29, suddenly became a fashion connoisseur.
He began sporting a Gucci watch worth P200,000 and carrying a pricey iPod music player. And a check on his room revealed a bigger stash of luxury goods, including an antique Girard Perregaux watch worth P300,000, Bulgari and DKNY perfumes, and other high-end clothes, accessories and gadgets.
The items are now on a list that form part of a criminal complaint against Valencia, who was arrested on Friday for allegedly stealing some P2.5 million worth of cash and valuables from the house of his former employer in Barangay Claro, Quezon City.
Case investigator PO2 Hermogenes Capili said Valencia had admitted looting the house of Augusto Magno, 58, who kicked Valencia out of his off-track betting outlet last month.
The man was fired because he was often drunk and brought his women to the workplace, Capili said.
Valencia was arrested late Friday afternoon at the corner of J.P. Rizal and Aguinaldo streets in Project 4, Quezon City, after his former boss spotted him and sought police assistance.
During interrogation, Valencia said two more men helped him in the robbery. Police said the suspects broke into the victim’s house by forcing one of the windows open.
When arrested, Valencia was caught wearing Magno’s Gucci watch and carrying his iPod.
Recovered later from his room at West Side Apartelle on 13th Avenue in Cubao were the antique Girard Perregaux watch, expensive perfumes, a pouch bag worth P3,000, a Levi’s stopwatch valued at P5,000, a Guess wristwatch worth P5,000, several pieces of men’s clothing and a Motorola cell phone charger—all belonging to the complainant.
But Magno, who discovered the burglary on July 3, said a few more stolen items were yet to be recovered: His antique Rolex worth P750,000, a Seiko watch valued at P100,000, some P35,000 in cash and assorted foreign currency amounting to P50,000, several cell phones and a Coach wallet.
