Swindler nabbed after face job, 14 years in hiding

MANILA, Philippines – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested last Wednesday a convicted swindler who underwent facial reconstruction surgery while hiding in the United States from 1995 to 2007.

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said Nimfa Montes Beredo, alias Patricia Beredo, 45, a native of Lumban, Laguna, was arrested at her residence at Perez & Cabana building on Taft Avenue in Malate, Manila last July 1.

Complainant Michaela Cañete of Techno Quest Manpower Corp. filed an estafa complaint before the NBI Anti-Organized Crime Division (AOCD), headed by assistant regional director Marianito Panganiban.

Cañete alleged that Beredo enticed victims to invest money in a non-existent travel agency.

Panganiban said while investigating Cañete’s complaint, they found that according to NBI records, Beredo jumped bail and fled to the US in 1995 while on trial for estafa by a Pasig court. She was convicted in absentia in 1996 and sentenced to serve 17 to 20 years.

Panganiban said Beredo served a three-year sentence in the US also for estafa while awaiting her deportation in August 2007. She was also charged with several estafa cases.

Beredo reportedly amassed P500,000 from her victims in the Philippines, and possibly millions of dollars from her victims in the US, Panganiban said.

He said Beredo had facial reconstruction and changed her name to Patricia Beredo. She had Philippine passports, credit cards and identification papers in both names.

“She (Beredo) was living in style in the US,” said Panganiban, noting the amount of money she swindled from her victims.

Beredo is currently detained at the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue while awaiting her transfer to the Correctional Institute for Women to serve her sentence.

She is also facing charges of estafa, concealing her true name and falsification of documents before the NBI for Canete’s case.

According to the NBI, Beredo married an American citizen, thinking she would not be deported. The man divorced her after finding out about her criminal cases.

She also reportedly married another man in the Philippines, but her husband has no knowledge of her activities, the NBI said.