Ex-police general faces car theft raps

The Traffic Management Group (TMG) has filed car theft charges against a retired police general who tried to sell a stolen Toyota pick-up in Angeles City the other day.

Chief Superintendent Renato Paredes, TMG director, said charges of violation of the election firearms ban and illegal possession of firearms will also be slapped against retired Chief Superintendent Antonio Lopez.

Police arrested Lopez at about 12:30 p.m. last Tuesday while he was trying to sell the stolen pick-up at a Shell gasoline station along the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Salapugan, Angeles City.

Police arrested Lopez after a certain Jay Sanchez informed them that the Toyota pick-up displayed for sale in front of the gasoline station was stolen from his stepfather a few weeks ago.

When police personnel led by Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Lingat inspected the vehicle, they learned that the serial number of the Land Transportation Office’s validating sticker on the windshield did not match the license plate.

Gasoline station owner Bobot Kho, when interrogated, revealed that Lopez, his godfather, merely requested him to display the vehicle.

Lopez failed to convince policemen that the car was not stolen by providing tampered photocopies of the vehicle’s certificate of registration and official receipts.

But the real owner presented original documents to the police, including the original car keys.

"When the keys were used, the ignition started. With the documents presented to us, we were inclined to believe Mr. Sanchez’s claims," said Superintendent Hermogenes Tosino, TMG spokesman.