Deposit slip leads to arrest of rob-slay suspect

A bank deposit slip helped the police trace and identify one of three motorcycle-riding men who shot dead a travel agency owner during a failed $60,000 robbery last Oct. 28 in Mandaluyong City.

Senior Superintendent Carlos de Sagun, Mandaluyong City police chief said they are preparing attempted robbery with homicide charges against Larry Herrera, an alleged member of the Bulacan-based Victor Santos robbery group.

De Sagun said witness Manuel Sazon identified Herrera as one of the depositors who acted suspiciously while he and his wife, Ofelia Salamat, were withdrawing the dollars.

“The victim’s husband (Sazon) identified Herrera as restively following him and the victim while they were inside the bank. Herrera was also one of the three men who blocked their vehicle in the failed robbery,” said De Sagun.

Herrera was traced due to the cooperation extended by a bank located along Libertad street in Mandaluyong City.

A surveillance camera of the bank showed Herrera depositing money in the account of a certain Gloria Herrera based in San Ildefonso town in Bulacan.

De Sagun said a police team went to San Ildefonso and they learned that Gloria is the wife of Herrera, who is also wanted for a series of robbery cases in the province.

The provincial jail and the regional trial court yielded no records of pictures of Herrera.

According to De Sagun, Herrera pretended to be a bank depositor to spy on other bank clients, especially those withdrawing large amount of cash.

The Philippine National Police strongly believed that “insiders” were feeding robbers information for bank and payroll and bank clients’ robberies but this case in Mandaluyong City proved otherwise.

After withdrawing the $60,000 last Oct. 28, Sazon, the victim and her mother and the couple’s 15-year-old son boarded their Mitsubishi Outlander for a short trip to the travel agency office at the City Land Shaw Tower.

However, while traversing Samat street and approaching the corner of Shaw Blvd., Sazon’s vehicle was caught in a traffic jam.

At this juncture, two of the suspects, with drawn handguns, alighted from a Honda TMX and pummeled the vehicle’s windows with the butt of their firearms while at the same time signaling its occupants to open the door.

But Sazon maneuvered the vehicle to an open lane and stepped on the gas. The robbers shot at the speeding Outlander, hitting Salamat in the back.

Sazon drove straight to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City, where Salamat died while being operated on.