Holdup unmasked in Marikina

A lotto teller gagged herself and loosely tied her hands to make it appear that a hold-up man took P92,000 from the outlet’s earnings last Nov. 3 in Marikina City.

However, Jeda Rose Calumba, 31, was arrested Tuesday and her "holdup" scheme foiled when she failed a polygraph test in Camp Crame, along with her cousin, Lea Prondo, 27, who yielded P33,000 of the loot.

Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas Jr. said Calumba admitted her crime after intense grilling by police investigators. She did not say though what drove her to commit the crime.

Prondo said she was not aware that the money handed to her by Calumba came from illegal means.

Rojas said Calumba had reported that a man turned up at the lotto outlet located at 244-A Bonifacio Avenue in Barangay Tañong at 8:10 a.m. last Nov. 3 to place a bet. She then claimed the suspect took out a fan knife and announced a holdup.

The suspect gagged her and tied her hands with a telephone cord before escaping with the earnings made by the outlet since Oct. 27, she said.

Calumba then started kicking the outlet’s door. The noise caught the attention of neighbor Nestor Liamso, who freed her.

But the lotto outlet owner, Catherine Vilar, sensed certain loopholes in Calumba’s story and contacted the Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) team and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to check the crime scene.

The teller was also brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) crime laboratory at Camp Crame, where she failed the lie detector test.

It was during intense grilling by CIDG operatives under Senior Superintendent Don Montenegro when Calumba broke down and admitted her crime.

She then led lawmen to a rented room which she shared with Prondo in Barangay Tanong, where P33,000 was recovered.

Rojas said they are preparing qualified theft charges against Calumba and Prondo before the Marikina City prosecutor’s office.