Videoke bar worker caught using customer’s credit card

A videoke bar worker and four others were arrested Friday after they allegedly used a credit card lost by a woman who recently visited their Makati City bar.

Imelda Dominguez reported to the Makati Police Station at about 10:22 p.m. Friday that she lost her credit card at the Redbox Karaoke Bar located in Greenbelt 3.

The victim told Police Officer 2 Steven Solebaga of the Makati Police Investigation Section that she called Citibank personnel, who told her that transactions using her credit card had been continuous.

Dominguez also alerted the security office of the Glorietta mall. Security officer Sonny Sablay said five minutes after the incident was reported to them, mall guards arrested the suspects, who were already carrying with them about P30,000 to P50,000 worth of signature items.

The videoke bar worker was identified as Pauline Arenal, an employee of Matrix Entertainment, which operates the Redbox branch in Greenbelt. She allegedly forged Dominguez’s signature and carried a fake identification card.

The four other suspects, friends of Arenal, were identified as Ma. Connie Enriquez, 22; Rey Paul Ibanez Mendoza, 18; Robert Castaneda, 22; and Regie Enriquez, 21.

When asked to show their respective identification cards, the suspects were not able to produce any.

Charges of theft and violation of Republic Act 8484, the access devices regulation law, have been filed against the five suspects, who are in the custody of the Makati police.