The first arrest has been made of a Gustafsson gang member. Low-level driver Edwin Rejano Erpe was arrested for carnapping. The charges, first was filed a year ago, allege that Erpe kept a motorbike without permission from his former Bodog employers.
The theft of the motorbike was the thread that undid the conspiracy. When the thread was pulled, it uncovered a team of former employees conspiring to defraud the gambling giant out of millions of dollars.
Erpe was able to secure the Php180,000 bail money to not sit in a jail cell until his trial, although he is barred from international travel.
It’s possible that the Php180,000 came from the Php200,000 that Sylvia De Guzman promised Erpe to betray his former employer, steal the motorbike, run errands and join the cabal of criminals.
Erpe faces 14 years and 8 months in prison for the theft of the motorbike if convicted. The country is especially hard on vehicular theft, considering the bike cost only $600, 15 years in prison is a long time to think about his decision to join the Gustafsson crime family.
More Charges Piling Up
The charges against the Gustafsson gang continue to pile up as Rosemarie Fegueroa Frialde and her boyfriend Mario Canasares Monteres (known as Rose and Mar) now face perjury charges for filing false police reports in connection to the smear campaign the group was running during their initial wave of criminality.
When the statements were retracted, it opened the pair up to the perjury charges.
Rose and Mar don’t have the financial means to leave the country or go on an extended vacation like the masterminds so it’s expected the pair will be picked up by police sooner rather than later to answer to the charges.
Still on the Run
While Erpe was able to make bail, Robert Gustafsson, Sherwin Quiambao and Sylvia De Guzman’s arrest warrants are all non-bailable offenses so they will be sitting in a jail cell until their eventual trial once they are apprehended.
The thought of sitting in a Philippine jail cell for months and eventually the rest of their lives if convicted is likely the reason all three are in hiding, leaving a low-level driver to face the brunt of the Philippine justice system alone for the crimes devised and poorly executed by the group.
Sylvia De Guzman is thought to have escaped the Philippines before the arrest warrants were issued.
Robert Gustafsson’s whereabouts is unknown but he is believed to still be somewhere in the Philippines but has the means to escape via fishing vessel or some other underground route.
Sherwin Quiambao, originally believed to have been outside of the country when the arrest warrants were issued but rumors suggest that he has inexplicably returned to the country.
There is still a 100,000php reward offered for information leading to the arrests of Quiambao, Gustafsson and De Guzman. If you have information please contact the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (02) 521-9208, the Office of the Chief of Police of Makati (02) 843-5851 or Makati PNP Warrant Section (02) 843-9878.
