Forgotten hat a booboo for burglars

A baseball cap left on the crime scene led to the arrest of two men suspected of carting away some P35,000 worth of cash and jewelry from a pharmacy manager’s house in Caloocan City.

The suspects were identified as Alquin Fortun and Christian Paul Malasan, both tricycle drivers residing in the same house on A.P. Aquino Street, Barangay 3, Sangandaan.

In a report by city police chief Senior Superintendent Jude Santos, the two allegedly robbed the house of Reggie Genoa, who lived on the same street, at around 3 a.m. on Aug. 20.

Investigators said the suspects climbed a wall and tore open the aluminum screen of a window to get into the house.

They then entered Genoa’s room, where she was fast asleep, and took a Samsung Mini Galaxy phone, her ATM and credit cards, other IDs, P15,000 in cash, and assorted pieces of jewelry.

Genoa’s sister Ritchie, who was in another room, was roused from sleep by the noise made by the suspects as they escaped.

Later, the sisters and the police discovered a baseball cap left near the broken window where the suspects entered.

Ritchie immediately recognized the cap as belonging to Malasan. She said she often saw the suspect wearing it in their neighborhood.

Police proceeded to the suspects’ house and arrested Malasan later that day. Fortun was also held after also admitting the crime, according to Santos’s report.

The stolen items, however, were not recovered.