Hot Babe slay suspects undergo drug tests

The seven suspects in last year’s brutal killing of Viva Hot Babe member Scarlet Garcia were subjected yesterday to drug tests.

Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad ordered suspects Benny Crisologo, alias David Guerrero, 23; Angelito Reyes, 35; Jerry Ugtahan, 25; Ernesto Ruperto, 22; Ariel Samonta, 35; Edwin Ruperto, 35, and Alvin Ugtahan, 19, to undergo tests to determine whether they are drug users.

“The crimes they have committed are all heinous crimes. Most of the gang members are in their early 20’s. They kill, rape and burn their victims. Perhaps, they are under the influence of drugs when they commit their crimes,” said Palad, noting that they are profiling all cases perpetrated by the alleged “Sako Gang” members.

Senior Superintendent Ireneo Dordas, Rizal police chief, brought the seven suspects to the crime laboratory of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for drug tests yesterday. He said results of the drug tests will be out this week.

Police said a .45-caliber automatic pistol and a .9mm pistol confiscated from the suspects during a raid Saturday at their safehouse in Pateros were also forwarded to the crime laboratory for cross-matching with slugs used in other crimes.

Aside from shooting Garcia and three others, whose bodies were burned in Olongapo City last March, the suspects were also behind a rash of killings in Central Luzon, Rizal, and Metro Manila.

During tactical interrogation, Crisologo, the alleged gang leader, said they started operating in 2004 as the “Estribo Gang” engaging in robbery-holdup of passenger jeepneys in San Juan City.

The gang members would place stolen items in a sack to escape detection by responding policemen, and the modus operandi earned them their name as “Sako Gang.”

Palad said the original leader of the group was Crisologo’s brother, Benedicto, who was found dead in Imus, Cavite sometime in 2005, apparently a victim of summary execution.

After Benedicto’s death, the 15-man Sako Gang divided into three sub-groups, electing Benny Crisologo, Henry Cheng Fong and Billy Scoffield as their leaders.

Since then, the Sako Gang has expanded their operations and increased the brutality of their crimes, Palad said, prompting him to suspect they take illegal drugs each time they strike.

Palad said gang members, Ferdinand Cadenas and Jay-Ar Perez Mojica, who were arrested by Pampanga policemen on April 5, 2008 for rape and murder, tested positive for marijuana use.

“I am appealing to the victims to pursue the cases against the arrested suspects. We have to secure their conviction in court so that they can no longer roam around committing heinous crimes against our citizenry particularly our women,” Palad said.