QC courthouse guard caught selling gun kept as evidence

MANILA, Philippines–A security guard assigned at the Quezon City Hall of Justice was recently arrested for allegedly stealing and selling several firearms and explosives that had been presented in court as evidence.

Jic Florentino, 33, faces charges of qualified theft and illegal possession of firearms after he sold a .45-cal. Remington pistol to an undercover agent in an entrapment operation set up by the Quezon City Police District at the Philcoa area Friday last week, police said.

The case investigator, SPO1 Cristituto Zaldarriaga, said at least nine guns and a hand grenade had been stolen from the office of Judge Wilfredo Maynigo of QC Regional Trial Court Branch 215.

“We believe that the theft was carried out with the help of an insider since there were no signs of forced entry (in Maynigo’s chamber),” Zaldarriaga said.

Also recovered from Florentino were 50 rounds of ammunition and two magazines. A court employee later confirmed that the gun sold by the suspect to the poseur buyer was one of the items stolen from Maynigo’s court.

Florentino, a member of Vigilant Security Agency, was assigned to the HOJ Annex building where Maynigo holds office, although he did not have the keys to the courtrooms, the officer noted.

The firearms and explosives—worth an estimated P500,000—were kept in a wooden cabinet inside the judge’s chamber. An inventory of the missing pieces also included a .40-cal. pistol, a 9-mm pistol, three .45-cal. pistols, two .38-cal. revolvers, a carbine rifle and a grenade.

“The judge was shocked that pieces of evidence were being stolen. According to him, it was the first time that this happened,” Zaldarriaga said.

The security guard was arrested in an operation by the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, which got wind of his activities from an informant who earlier managed to buy a gun from the suspect.