A man staying at a posh hotel in Makati City was arrested by the police on Saturday after he and a female accomplice were found to have stolen four laptop computers owned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Superintendent Jaime Santos, Makati Police officer in charge, identified the man as Michael Genesis Reyes, a guest of Makati Shangri-La hotel, where the UNHCR held a day-long conference on Friday.
According to Santos, hotel security personnel sought their assistance after a staffer of the UNHCR reported the loss of four laptop computers and other electronic gadgets on Saturday morning.
The thieves were identified after a check of the footage taken by the hotel’s closed circuit television cameras showed them carrying out of the ballroom—the venue of the UNHCR conference—laptop computer bags.
When questioned, Reyes admitted that he and the woman, whom he identified only as Missy, took the laptop computers and turned these over to another accomplice, Jaime Hortilano.
Investigators led by Senior Police Officer 2 Danilo Ortega immediately went to Hortilano’s house on Luna Street in Barangay 123, Pasay City, but failed to find him.
Authorities then sought the help of the barangay (village) chairman, Rolando Sanchez, who was initially uncooperative. Later on, he apparently got in touch with Hortillano and surrendered the stolen laptop computers to the police on Saturday evening.
“Hortilano appears to have gone into hiding, fearing [his] arrest,” Santos said, adding that they were also looking for the woman identified as Missy.