Exec caught stealing firm's vending machine

MANILA, Philippines - A manager of a Korean company was jailed after he was caught by the firm’s spy camera stealing a coffee vending machine in Pasig City.

John Paul Marcelo, 32, admitted his crime when his employer, Young Jin Ko, 42, confronted him with the video footage.

Marcelo used to work for the Vending Korea Corp. Young, the firm’s president, said he demoted Marcelo but did not say why.

Chief Inspector Glenn Magsino, chief of the Station Investigation Detective Management Branch (SIDMB) of the Pasig City police, said Young discovered last Jan. 6 a mini-coffee vending machine worth P30,000 was missing from their office. When he checked their closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage, Young found Marcelo was the culprit.

PO3 Rusthom Valdez said Marcelo admitted selling the missing machine to Merrybeth Almida of Biñan, Laguna for P19,000.

Valdez said Almida could not be charged as an accomplice because she bought the machine in good faith. “The machine was bought in the said office and Marcelo issued a receipt where the signature of Young was forged by him,” he said.