CEBU - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Central Visayas arrested a police officer who allegedly duped his fellow police officers to invest in a non-existent financing firm for customers of a casino.
Supervising agent Rey Villordon of the NBI 7 caught PO3 Joseph Villaester in the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 office in Cebu City last Monday afternoon.
Villordon said the arrest was based on a warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 Judge Wilfredo Fiel Navarro.
Villaester was able to post P40,000 for bail on the same day.
Complainant SPO1 Arnold Bocayong said he filed an estafa case against Villaester in October last year after the latter allegedly stole P100,000 from him.
He also alleged that Villaester took more than P1 million from five CIDG 7 officials and non-commissioned officers. The accused also allegedly duped a lawyer, retired police officer and civilian.
Sun.Star Cebu tried to interview Villaester but he refused to issue any statement.
Two police officers also filed estafa cases against the accused, who allegedly went absent without official leave after he was charged.
SPO1 Bocayong said the accused persuaded him to invest money because the latter had a cousin who lent money to gamblers.
“I was told that I would earn P18,000 per month,” said Bocayong. “He told me that the money can help in my law studies. And if I become a lawyer, he told me he would get my services.”
The police officer said he did not doubt Villaester because they worked together in CIDG 7. Bocayong is now assigned in another police unit.
He said the money he gave to the accused was borrowed from the Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association, Inc. (AFPSLAI).
“I trusted him because we were in the same office and at the same time we were comrades in arms, without knowing he already cheated on me,” said Bocayong.
He said his then-superiors at CIDG 7 interviewed Villaester’s cousin, who denied running a financing firm.
Bocayong’s lawyer planned to file a separate complaint against the accused before the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (Moleo).
Senior Supt. Ritchie Posadas, CIDG 7 director, said Villaester admitted that he persuaded his fellow CIDG personnel to invest in his cousin’s supposed business.
The accused was told to settle the amount he allegedly stole, but he stopped reporting to work for five months.
Posadas said they charged Villaester with an administrative case and the penalty they recommended was a rank demotion.
He said the penalty was not yet implemented because their superior has yet to sign the decision.
Villaester returned to duty last August, Posadas said. (Sun.Star Cebu)