Janitor ‘cleans out’ 5 stalls in mall

MANILA, Philippines–Authorities are looking for a janitor who took nearly P23,000 in cash and 58 cell phones worth P109,300 from several vendors’ stalls at the City Center Mall on J. P. Rizal corner Korea Streets in Barangay (village) Nangka, Marikina City before dawn on Sunday.

Based on the closed-circuit television  camera footage obtained by the police, the suspect was identified as Marciano Alvarado, a janitor who had been with the mall for five years.

PO3 Mark Erwin Bumatay of the Marikina police said that Alvarado broke into five stalls after the mall closed down for the day.

The heist was discovered by security guard Maarof Dimasangkay around 8 a.m. Sunday when he went inside the establishment.

The police said that based on the footage taken by security cameras, Alvarado entered the establishment’s main entrance using the key provided to him at 2:25 a.m. Sunday.

According to Bumatay, Alvarado had his own key since he was assigned to clean the mall before it opened at 8 a.m.

Within a 10-minute period, he broke into a cell phone booth owned by Deza Cañete and took 57 cell phones worth P109,300. He then went to Joey Mahinay’s pizza stall from which he stole another phone worth P1,500 and P3,062 in cash. Next, he forcibly opened the cash drawers of a lotto outlet, a hotdog stand and dumplings stall from which he took a total of P19,503.40 in cash.