SECURITY officials nabbed a 22-year-old man last Aug. 2 for allegedly stealing several gadgets and a pair of leather shoes near the open field.
The UST security office said the suspect, Mark Galvan, was brought to the Sampaloc Police Station 4 after verification with the victims and from CCTV footage. But Galvan, who had posed as a jogger, was later released after reaching a settlement with the victims.
Security records showed Galvan entered the campus on a motorcycle, telling security guards he would go to the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church. He instead went around the field looking for potential victims, like varsity players and joggers, whose bags were unattended.
As outsiders cannot be barred from going to the church and other public places in the University, Security Chief Joseph Badinas said car inspections would be stricter.
“If the car has no sticker, it’s considered subject for monitoring. We will verify where it will go,” he said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Badinas urged varsity players and student joggers in the field to be more careful with their belongings.
In a separate incident last Aug. 13, security officials caught another alleged thief, Aljaafar Bin Dimaporo, who was allegedly caught in the act of stealing a student’s bag in a pavilion on Gonzalez Drive, near the church.
The suspect used the “salisi” modus operandi, in which thieves distract their victims to steal their belongings.
Dimaporo was also brought to the Sampaloc Police Station 4. Jerome P. Villanueva
