Dentist’s aide raped, clinic robbed; suspect in 19 cases loose?

A dentist’s secretary was raped inside a clinic in Marikina City on Wednesday morning by a man who also ransacked the establishment afterward, raising concerns that the suspect who was arrested in 2011 for robbing dental clinics and molesting several doctors in Metro Manila was once again on the loose.

The police said that the 19-year-old dental secretary was found by the dentist tied up inside the bathroom of the clinic on Gen. Ordoñez Street in Barangay Concepcion.

The victim described her assailant as around 5’7” in height, of heavy build, with fair complexion and semicurly hair.

The man who had pretended to be a patient asked about the services offered by the dentist and wrote his name down as JV D. Castro in the clinic’s logbook.

At that time, the dentist was not around so the victim asked the man to come back around noon.

Instead of leaving, however, he took out a gun, forced the secretary to strip, and then raped her.

A police report said after he tied up the victim in the bathroom, the man fled on his motorcycle with an undetermined amount of cash and dental instruments.

In an interview, Senior Insp. Eduardo Cayetano, investigation chief, said he was not discounting the fact that Albert Galang dela Cruz, who had owned up to 19 of the 23 dental robberies reported in Metro Manila following his arrest in 2011, was on the loose.

Some of Dela Cruz’s victims were either raped or molested.

“We are verifying if he is still in jail,” Cayetano said.

He added that when she was shown a picture of Dela Cruz, the victim said he and her attacker had similar features.

Should Dela Cruz be found to be still behind bars, Cayetano said it was possible that the man who struck on Wednesday was a copycat or a cohort.

Cayetano said at least six of Dela Cruz’s cohorts remain at large.