End of line for notorious con man

A tip from an informer led to the arrest of a man who is a suspect in a string of swindling cases in Cebu and Mandaue cities.

Mandaue City police arrested Joseph Llanes Cua, 25, of Jacinto Exit, Davao City, who once posed as a priest in defrauding his victims. He likewise gypped an employee of a money exchange shop last Thursday. Cua was arrested after police tailed him from his hotel room yesterday.

Chief Insp. Michael Bastes, chief of the Investigation  and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) in Mandaue City, said they moved in to arrest Cua, whose car got  stuck in  traffic.

Cua didn’t resist arrest and was detained at the Subangdaku Police Station.

When asked if he was the person in the Cebu Daily News article “Father Glenn tagged in Mandaue Swindling” published last Friday, Cua said it was his picture and it was him who conned the teller of the VHEZ Money Changer, Anthony Lauron, of more than P100,000 cash last Thursday.

POLS NAMES

Bastes said that the suspect would use names of politicians in Metro Cebu and would drop names like Dra. Radaza, Dra. Cortes, Dra. Rama and Dra. Osmena while talking with prospective victims on the phone and would even pose as a lawyer.

“Kung asa siya muigo nga lugar, ang dad on niya nga mga apelyido kay sa mga politico pud anang lugara,” Bastes added while pointing out that they would still check if the suspect has other cohorts.

Police have been watching the hotel where the suspect was staying.

They followed him after a witness identified the suspect as he went out of the hotel.

TAILED

They tailed his vehicle and cornered him in Juan Luna Street in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

Police found a small pack believed to contain shabu  when the police frisked the suspect at the Subangdaku Police Station.

Cua, in an interview with Cebu Daily News at his detention cell, said that he pretended to be a customer of VHEZ money changer and carted away P122,400 last January 10 at past 3 p.m.

“It is not my fault anymore if they will believe in strangers conducting business over the phone,” Cua said.

“Walay mangingilad kung walay magpailad (There are no con men if there are no con victims),” he said.

KOREAN VICTIMS

He also admitted being the person published in CDN and accused by the Koreans in 2011 of stealing their cameras.

He, however, denied stealing the cameras and said that he returned the cameras to the Koreans after he took their pictures.

He said that he had been renting a room at the Waterfront Cebu City hotel for the past three months.

Yesterday, Arnel Agsoy, sales boy of Junrex; Joan Meranda, teller of another money changer; Lauron and Lacida positively identified Cua as the person who swindled them.

Agsoy said that he was preparing the P10,000 and two mobile phones amounting to P40,000 inside the Junrex establisment in Ayala.

Agsoy said that the suspect used the name of Rama to con him to giving the money and cellphones.

COORDINATE

Senior Supt. Petronelli Baldebrin, city director of MCPO, said that they would be coodinating with Davao City to check if Cua had an existing warrant of arrest or National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Baldebrin added that the establishments should not rely on phone transactions especailly if it would involve large amounts of money.