Couple charged with estafa

A printing press mechanic and his wife has been charged with estafa after allegedly taking P210,000 from two businessmen last month.

The complainants Averell Piramide and Benlie Bermon sought the help of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch for the arrest of Christopher Orellano who they said duped them into putting up capital for a plastic pellets business.

Piramide said he came to know Orellano after he offered to be a mechanic at their printing press several times and also tried to sell him some machine parts.

Last July Orellano proposed to finance a pellet business based in Mindanao because the original financier suddenly left for the US without any warning.

That time, the amount Orellano needed was pegged at P280,000. Piramide, however, turned this down. Last September Orellano came back and told him that all that was needed this time was P70,000.

Orellano then introduced Piramide to his wife, Anna, who claimed that they had a machine business shop registered under her name.

Piramide was also given the name Danilo Lim, the alleged owner of an account number, to which the victim deposited the amount after he was eventually convinced to support the business.

The couple told him that after a week they would return with the amount he deposited plus the corresponding proportionate share of the transaction, but both never returned.

His efforts to reach the couple through their mobile phones went unanswered, except for one time when he was able to contact Orellano who was reportedly evasive and refused to pay.

He later found out that all those promises the couple made, even the supposed machine shop, were all false.

Bermon, a printing press shop owner, also claimed to have been duped by Orellano last September 6 with the same modus operandi used on Piramide. - Ryan P. Borinaga