AT 8 years old, he was taught how to handle guns, start a motorcycle and break into a car and start it without a key.
Now of legal age, John Kyle Samonte acted as a lookout for the notorious Dominguez brothers who were arrested by the police in Manila for carnapping activities.
Samonte, who ran away from home in Cebu at the age of 8, was arrested along with four others for allegedly stealing a four-wheeled vehicle in A. Del Rosario Street, barangay Tipolo, Mandaue city, yesterday noon.
Also arrested were 34-year-old Rannie Dandan and 28-year-old Johnriel Carsido and 25-year-old Floriano Conde. The suspects were detained in Subangdaku police precinct on carnapping charges.
All suspects are residents of sitio Avocado, barangay Mambaling, Cebu city.
PO3 Marvin Fegarido of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue city police said the Kia Pride vehicle was owned by Juvy Zanoria.
The 39-year-old Zanoria said she was about to bring her kids to school when she saw that her gray Kia Pride vehicle which she acquired last July was missing.
Mambaling police in Cebu City later told her they intercepted a similar car and arrested the carnappers.
Samonte was driving the vehicle when it was intercepted by police in Ganciang Street, barangay Mambaling, Cebu City.
Samonte just finished Grade 3 in Basak Mambaling School when he ran away from home. He said he hitched a boat ride to Manila and reached Tondo where he met Richard Dominguez.
For three months, said Samonte, he trained in the use of guns and how to steal motorcycles and cars.
Samonte said he later joined the carnap activities of the Dominguez brothers, serving as an armed lookout.
When the Dominguez brothers were wanted for carnapping, Samonte said he was sent back to Cebu where he began stealing motorcycles.
He said he managed to start the Kia Pride vehicle with a false key stolen from his uncle who owned another vehicle.
“I used it because it looked like the key used in Kia vehicles,” Samonte said.
He said they usually have the vehicles broken into parts and sold to prospective buyers to avoid detection by the police.
Chief Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes, who heads the Mandaue City police’s IDMB, said they will track down any and all companions of Samonte who are engaged in carnapping. Correspondent Jucell Marie P. Cuyos