QC maid, 2 others held for P22-M theft

A housemaid and two of her accomplices face charges for allegedly stealing almost P22 million in cash and jewelry from the Quezon City residence of former actress Pilar Padilla Brooks, the 90-year-old aunt of actor Robin Padilla.

They tried to mislead the investigation by making it appear that the house was ransacked by armed robbers, police said.

Jenifer Palomo, 33; Judy Sedrome, 34; and Noel Avila, 36, were arrested Friday for qualified
theft after security camera footage obtained by the police forced a confession and exposed their inside job.

Three other persons were also placed in police custody but remained under investigation as of Friday night.

Brooks was expected to arrive from the United States on Tuesday when the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) was alerted to an “armed robbery” that had just taken place at her house in Congressional Village, Barangay Bahay Toro.

Palomo and another woman had supposedly left to fetch Brooks at the airport when two men entered the house and held two other maids– Lony Espenilla and Julie Ann Acienda — at gunpoint.

Espenilla and Acienda later told investigators that the intruders took a safe containing cash and jewelry worth P1.8 million.

But according to Senior Insp. Allan dela Cruz, chief of the QCPD’s theft and robbery section, investigators had doubts about the maids’ story particularly when they said the robbers stayed at the house for two hours.

Footage from a closed-circuit television camera at the house later showed that during the supposed time of the robbery, an unarmed man — later identified as Paul Michael Restoso — was allowed to enter the premises. The video provided no indication of gunmen barging in.

When invited for questioning, Palomo confessed that she instructed Avila to get the safe back in May, when Brooks was still in the US. She also implicated Sedrome, Brooks’ former driver, as part of the conspiracy.

Dela Cruz said Palomo also paid Restoso P20,000 to set the house in disarray on Tuesday to make it appear that it was ransacked.

She was also found to have falsified documents and made withdrawals from Brooks’ bank account to the tune of P20 million, the QCPD official added.

The police also recovered from her Brooks’ land titles, pawnshop papers, checks, a laptop and several cell phones.

As of late Friday, Espenilla, Acienda and Restoro remained in police custody. Investigators would determine whether they could be considered suspects or used as witnesses, Dela Cruz said

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Brooks said she fully trusted Palomo, her housemaid for the past three years, and even treated her like her own daughter.