Actor charged for motel heist

MANILA, Philippines - An independent film actor  has been charged for reportedly skipping on a P10,210 bill at a motel in Pasay City, stealing a television from the room and hitting an employee as he raced out of the motel in his Volvo sedan last June 11, an official said yesterday.

Marco Morales faces charges of estafa, physical injuries and theft filed by the Pasay City police Thursday, according to Southern Police District director Jose Erwin Villacorte.

He added that investigators are also looking into past complaints that may have been filed against Morales.

Pasay police chief Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Llorca said Morales also reportedly checked in at the Malate, Manila branch of the same motel, ordered a lot of food, and left without paying the bill.

Other reports state that the actor had checked in with two women, who had to give up their cell phones in order to pay the bill.

Llorca said Morales also allegedly tried to check in at a high-end hotel in Makati City, but gave up when the hotel asked for a deposit.

Pasay police investigators were able to verify Morales’ identity after reviewing clips from the Pasay motel’s closed-circuit television cameras, Villacorte said.

Morales stayed in the motel for two days, ordering food, then fled the motel in a Volvo sedan (UPZ-452) at past 2 p.m. on June 11. As he was escaping, he reportedly hit one of the motel employees who tried to stop him.

Motel employees who checked the room Morales allegedly used discovered that a 32-inch television set was missing, earlier reports said.

Morales reportedly left behind a US driver’s license that identified him as Marco Gonzaga Saca of Malibu Hills, California.