Maid falls prey to con artists in Caloocan

Con artists, one masterfully aping the voice of her employer over the phone, duped a gullible maid into digging into the cash drawers of her employer and obediently giving her P300,000 in cold cash Friday night in Caloocan City.

Inspector Marcelo Mariano, Follow-Up Unit chief of the Caloocan City police station, said his men have made a headway since the victim positively identified suspect Joel Gaut, 22, jeepney driver, of 7 Valencia street, Sta. Mesa, Manila in a rogues’ gallery he presented yesterday.

Gaut’s female partner has not been identified yet, but Mariano assured the victims that it would only be a matter of time before the perpetrators fall in their hands.

Police said Merly Cariño, 22, a native of Ormoc City and housemaid of Perlita Pascual, 42, of Metro Green Village, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City, told probers she received a phone call at around 3:30 p.m. Friday from a female caller introducing herself as her employer Pascual.

The woman at the end of the line allegedly told Cariño her employer met an accident and needed some cash. Pascual allegedly asked her to open her padlocked drawers and get all the cash and jewelry she could find and bring them to a fastfood restaurant on Rizal Avenue Extension near the LRT North Terminal in Monumento, Caloocan City.

There, she was told, she would be met by a man to whom she should entrust the cash and valuables.

At around 6:30 p.m., Cariño was met by a man who introduced himself as a lawyer belonging to a known law firm. The same man later turned out to be Gaut.

Cariño then surrendered all the cash and jewelry to Gaut and then returned home. Pascual learned of the incident only when she got back from work and subsequently sought police assistance at the police headquarters in Caloocan City.