NBI nabs fake lawyer for 20 estafa cases

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested Wednesday a fake lawyer for allegedly swindling at least 20 people of P35 million, an official said yesterday.

NBI spokesman Special Investigator IV Cecilio Zamora Jr. said Rico Alpapara, 58, was caught at a mall in Pasig City by agents assigned with the NBI Deputy Director for Intelligence Services (DDIS).

NBI agents received information from an asset, who was used as bait, that Alpapara was coming over to meet him to purchase a car.

At the NBI, Alpapara refused to give a statement to the media. His family and a lawyer were beside him during yesterday’s presentation.

The NBI said Alpapara is the subject of at least 20 arrest warrants, most of which are for estafa, from the trial courts of Pasig, Caloocan and Quezon City.

One of the complainants who filed charges with the NBI chanced upon Alpapara last Aug. 9 at a gas station along Jupiter street in Makati City, but he eluded law enforcers who engaged him in a car chase.

Two days later, on Aug. 11, Alpapara showed up at a coffee shop for a transaction with a would-be victim, according to the NBI, through the help of a complainant who offered a Honda Accord for sale.

The NBI said when Alpapara alighted from a Honda Civic (RGB-884), they found out that the Civic was a “hot car” registered under the name of Leonardo Visceral and is a subject of a recovery action by the Banco de Oro.

Zamora said several more complainants have gone to the NBI to file charges against Alpapara.

Case dismissed

Sen. Vicente Sotto III, one of Alpapara’s better known alleged victims, filed estafa charges against him in November 2009 for buying his BMW X5 (XRE-792) but issuing bouncing checks in payment.

Alpapara told NBI investigators that he sold Sotto’s BMW to a certain Oscar Donato Jr. He stated a certain address but NBI investigators said no such person resides in the place and no vehicle was reported to have entered with such specification. The BMW of Sotto, Zamora said, has yet to be recovered.

The Quezon City prosecutor’s office has dismissed the estafa charges filed by Sotto against Alpapara. In the same resolution, the perjury and libel charges filed by Alpapara against Sotto were also junked. 

 Sotto said he later found out from the police that he was not Alpapara’s only victim. A check with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines showed that Alpapara is neither a lawyer nor a member of the IBP.

Alpapara then became elusive and could not be traced until his arrest last Wednesday.

Assistant City Prosecutor Ferdinand Baylon said the “proper recourse” for Sotto “is a civil action for collection of sum of money and damages without prejudice to his filing the corresponding complaint for violation of Batas Pambansa 22 with respect to the dishonored checks, if warranted under the circumstances.” – With Reinir Padua