4th suspect falls in Manila diaper store robbery-killings

The Manila police have arrested a fourth suspect in the October 27 robbery that killed a businessman and his daughter at their diaper store in Sta. Cruz district.

Barhain Francisco, a resident of Yakal Street in Tondo, allegedly served as one of the drivers of the two motorcycles used by the robbery gang to escape.

Francisco was arrested on Saturday and was turned over to the MPD Homicide Section on Sunday.

Diaper store owner Onofre Cruz and his daughter Sierra were shot dead by the robbers who entered the store on Felix Huertas Street.

A security camera footage showed that Sierra, pulling a gun from under the cashier counter, was able to shoot and kill one of the robbers, Arnold Lipon, before she was shot by another suspect.

Police earlier arrested another suspect, Paul Ryan Lomboy, in Tondo, on October 29. Lomboy was earlier wanted for car theft, but police said he also served as a lookout and motorcycle driver in the Sta. Cruz heist and that he squealed on his cohorts in that robbery during interrogation.

Two more suspects, Kenneth Soto and Juvonne Tolentino, were arrested three days later and were detained at the MPD Homicide Section.

Soto was allegedly the mastermind of the October 27 robbery that killed the Cruzes.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Tolentino, Soto and Francisco claimed that they were merely implicated in the robbery because they had quarreled with Lomboy in the past.

Ready with their alibis, Tolentino said his family owns an LPG supply business while Soto said his family runs a bakery—with both establishments having security cameras that could prove that they were not at the crime scene when the robbery took place.

“In the CCTV footage (of the robbery) shown on television, I look so much younger than the (suspect) in that video,” Tolentino noted.

But according to Lomboy, Tolentino was the one who stood guard outside the diaper store and that he was then holding a paper bag containing a gun.

Lomboy said he got to know Soto and Tolentino because they shared a hobby, motorcycle racing.

He also claimed that, before the robbery, Soto called him up to say he had a plan ready for the heist and that all they needed were getaway vehicles.

Lomboy said one alias “Akol,” another suspect who remained at large, was one of the two robbers who entered the diaper store.

“Akol said we got P60,000 (from the robbery) and I was paid P5,000,” Lomboy said.

MPD-Tondo station commander Superintendent Ernesto Tendero said a vehicle theft complainant earlier sought police assistance to retrieve a stolen motorcycle. The ensuing operation led to Lomboy’s arrest on October 29, he said.

Tendero said Lomboy offered himself as a state witness during the interrogation.