Suspect held for robbing home of Gabby Lopez aide

A suspect in the P6-million armed robbery at the house of an executive assistant of ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III was arrested on Wednesday.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said ABS-CBN employee Janz Macadaeg and her family members identified Richard Basale as the man who barged into their home in Barangay (village) Sacred Heart and held them at gunpoint Sunday.

In a press conference on Thursday, QCPD director Senior Supt. Richard Albano said the stolen cash, jewelry and other valuables were not recovered from the 27-year-old suspect when he was arrested at his Pasig City home.

Basale and two other men allegedly slipped through the open gate of the Macadaeg residence, posing as policemen tracking down an illegal recruiter. The suspects then forced the household members into a room and ransacked the house. Before fleeing, they allegedly pistol-whipped Janz’s 63-year-old mother in the head.

Members of the QCPD’s Kamuning station and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit went after Basale based on a rogues gallery kept by the Pasig and Makati police. Theft and robbery section head Insp. Alan de la Cruz said Basale was previously linked to a jeepney robbery in Makati.

Two of Basale’s alleged cohorts in Sunday’s robbery remained at large.—Julie M. Aurelio