Suspect in 3 QC robbery cases faces homicide raps for shop owner’s slay

A suspect who had been linked to three Quezon City robberies last year was charged in court yesterday for the killing  of a  money change shop owner in December.

Assistant City Prosecutor Alessandro Jurado recommended no bail for Charlie Mamalayan, 27, an alleged member of an organized crime group operating in Southern Luzon.

The robbery with homicide case for the death of Marvin Sandiko has been raffled off to Judge Germano Francisco Legaspi of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 on Thursday.

The court has yet to set the arraignment of the suspect who is detained in Camp Karingal.

Sandiko, the owner of  Noel Money Changer shop in Barangay Damayan, was shot dead on Dec. 14 by a motorcycle-riding gunman who turned out to be Mamalayan.

The suspect made off with the victim’s black bag which contained his belongings and P40,000 in cash.

On Dec. 20, 2012, Mamalayan was involved in a robbery at the Suki Market in Barangay Sta. Teresita, during which he and three other men allegedly took off with  P120,000, wounding a security guard in the process.

He was arrested in Laguna province the following day. Two other suspects, Christopher Castillo and Thaddeus “TJ” Fajardo, remain at large.

Another suspect, PO1 Jonathan Barredo, surrendered to police.

Barredo was implicated by his father-in-law, a Superintendent Felipe, who claimed that Barredo had affixed the license plate of his Montero to another vehicle  used as the  getaway vehicle in the Suki Market incident.

On Oct. 16 last year, Mamalayan was tagged in the shooting of Genesis Olbedencia in Barangay Commonwealth.

Mamalayan and Castillo even used the victim’s Mitsubishi Montero as a getaway vehicle, police said.

According to theft and robbery chief SPO4 Alan de la Cruz, Mamalayan and Castillo belong to Fajardo’s gang dealing in extortion and gun for hire activities, mostly in Batangas and Laguna provinces.

“The robbery cases are just their sideline. They are also involved in gambling activities,” De la Cruz added.

Castillo is a councilor of Barangay Coloconto in San Juan, Batangas, and has a string of cases against him, involving murder, frustrated murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms.

He and several others also figured in an ambush on police intelligence agents in Poblacion, San Juan, Batangas, in August 2011.

According to De la Cruz, Fajardo is the son of convicted kidnapper Ruperto, who was imprisoned for kidnapping a Japanese national. His brother Rolando is also facing eight cases of kidnapping and one case of car theft.

Another brother, Harold, is also wanted for car theft and kidnapping and has a P1 million bounty on his  head.

De la Cruz said Barredo tagged Fajardo their leader in the Dec. 20 Suki Market incident.

Barredo alleged that Fajardo was with them inside the Montero used as a getaway vehicle.

Fajardo and Castillo were charged with robbery and frustrated murder in the Quezon City prosecutor’s office last year.

Mamalayan claimed that the body of a wounded cohort, Juniel Siguenza, was dumped in Tagaytay City after  he was wounded in a shoot-out with  policemen.

De la Cruz said the body has not yet been found. Siguenza, he said, was reportedly a gun-for-hire like Castillo.

The police official added that the case against Fajardo for the Suki Market heist was the first criminal complaint against him.

Based on the complaint filed in the Quezon City Police District, the heist was planned three days before the  robbery, with Barredo agreeing to the use of  his Montero, stolen in Binondo last year, in the robbery.

Barredo allegedly stole the license plate of his in-law’s Montero and affixed it to the stolen vehicle.