Housemaid arrested for stealing valuables

A 17-year-old housemaid was arrested yesterday by the Makati City police after she stole from her employer P200,000 worth of valuables.

Police Officer 1 Rico Caramat, case investigator, said that Lorena Tabaculde, is a stay-in helper of businessman Christopher Melegrito, a resident of Antonio Village in Makati City. She is detained and facing charges of qualified theft.

Melegrito told Caramat that when he woke up at around 10:30 a.m. last Saturday, he noticed that his valuables, consisting of assorted clothes, two cellular phones, cash money worth P30,000, assorted jewelry and perfume were missing.

He said he recalled that Tabaculde was cleaning his room while he was asleep at around 8:30 a.m. so he looked for her only to find out that she had left. He said he asked another house maid, Jennilyn, to call the suspect on her cellular phone.

At around 2 p.m., Tabaculde showed up at the Shopwise along Pasong Tamo St., in Makati City and was surprised to see Melegrito and Jennilyn. Tabaculde confessed that she left the clothes at a friend’s place but she turned over the jewelry to her boyfriend, a security guard, as he had promised to take her to his hometown in Negros Occidental.

The lovebirds were supposed to meet at the corner of Buendia Avenue and Mayapis Street at around 8 p.m. but he never showed up. — Evelyn Macairan