MANILA, Philippines—A cleverly hidden security camera led to the arrest late Monday afternoon of an aspiring store manager who allegedly pocketed some P250,000 in cash earnings of a restaurant in Manila, police said.
The manager-in-training of the Classic Savory Restaurant inside the SM San Lazaro Mall in Manila was caught on closed-circuit television footage taking money late Sunday night from the restaurant’s vault and stuffing the bills inside the pockets of his pants.
The damning video led to the man’s arrest at around 5 p.m. Monday by operatives of the Manila Police District Theft and Robbery Section who caught up with him in his Caloocan City home. Although none of the stolen cash was recovered, the man was charged with qualified theft at the city prosecutor’s office on Tuesday.
Inspector Jimmy Labarda of the MPD Theft and Robbery Section said that the alleged robbery happened at around 9 p.m. Sunday while the restaurant employees were closing the store.
“In the video, (the management trainee) positioned himself behind the counter where the cash vault was concealed underneath. He kept on looking around and watching the restaurant manager who was standing across him and had his back turned, giving out instructions to other employees. (The trainee) then started taking money from the vault and stuffing it inside his pants pockets,” Labarda told the Inquirer.
The theft of two days’ worth of the restaurant’s earnings of P251,000 was discovered on Monday morning, prompting store officials to review CCTV footage of the previous day. After viewing the video, Classic Savory Restaurant area manager Ellen Zaldivia sought the help of the MPD Theft and Robbery Section.
“He (trainee) probably did not know there was a CCTV camera. He has only been employed in the restaurant for a month,” Labarda pointed out, adding that despite the security camera footage taken of him, the suspect denied stealing the money.
Greens leader Bob Brown is outraged at reports that ASIO is spying on mining protesters and says such action is a misuse of the spy agency’s resources.
The revelations were reported in Fairfax newspapers this morning and are based on a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism that was reportedly rejected because it involved “an intelligence agency document”.
Senator Brown says Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson should release the documents in question.
“So the public can see just how much he is complicit in having ASIO spy instead of on people threatening this country, on people who have a right to democratically express their opinion,” he said.
Senator Brown says spying on protesters is not on.
“It’s totally outrageous, what’s more that the Minister, Martin Ferguson – a Labor minister at that – is complicit in having ASIO spy on farmers, eco-tourism venturers, wine-growers, the people who are really wanting to protect their lands from this rapid expansion of the fossil fuel industries in farm lands and community precincts around Australia – it is just not on,” he said.
The Fairfax report raises concerns from security officials that anti-coal activists pose a greater threat to energy security than terrorists.
Athol Yates from the Australian Homeland Security Research Centre says that is not the case.
“The simple answer to that is absolutely not unless they are engaged in very destructive behaviour,” he said.
“In the case of most coal protests, it is much more about raising a political awareness of the issue and the costs that are incurred by their behaviour really relate to the delay in coal production or coal transport.”
‘Not much impact’
But he says depending on the way the activities of environmental activists are defined, surveillance by ASIO may be justified.
“If they are classed as a terrorist risk, then it is justified. The question is on what basis is that assessment made?” he said.
“If there is concern that they are going to be involved in physical destruction or inflicting physical harm upon people, then they would be totally justified in surveilling them.”
Cam Walker from environment group Friends of the Earth was involved in an occupation of the coal conveyor belts at Hazelwood power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley in 2009.
He says he is not surprised by the news that ASIO is involved in the surveillance of activists.
But he says protesters have never had much of an impact on energy production.
“There has never been any significant impact on energy supply. There is no essential services argument here. This is really about silencing dissent,” he said.
“The primary focus of direct action has been against the state government, it has been against infrastructure but has not intended to shut down the systems.
“It has been intended to apply political and public pressure so I think the essential services that is shutting down the grid argument is an entire furphy that has been run by people with their own political agenda.”
Mr Ferguson was not available for comment this morning.
ASIO says it cannot confirm whether it has conducted surveillance of anti-coal protesters, but it says it does not target particular groups or individuals unless there is a security-related reason to do so.
The plan, the official said, was developed in response to a classified study completed last year by the director of national intelligence that concluded that the military’s espionage efforts needed to be more focused on major targets beyond the tactical considerations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The new service will seek to “make sure officers are in the right locations to pursue those requirements,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the “realignment” of the military’s classified human espionage efforts.
The official declined to provide details on where such shifts might occur, but the nation’s most pressing intelligence priorities in recent years have included counterÂterrorism, nonproliferation and ascendant powers such as China.
Creation of the new service also coincides with the appointment of a number of senior officials at the Pentagon who have extensive backgrounds in intelligence and firm opinions on where the military’s spying programs — often seen as lackluster by CIA insiders — have gone wrong.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who signed off on the newly created service last week, served as CIA director at a time when the agency relied extensively on military hardware, including armed drones, in its fight against al-Qaeda.
Michael Vickers, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and the main force behind the changes, is best known as one of the architects of the CIA’s program to arm Islamist militants to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan in the 1980s. He is also a former member of U.S. Special Operations forces.
The realignment is expected to affect several hundred military operatives who already work in spying assignments abroad, mostly as case officers for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which serves as the Pentagon’s main source of human intelligence and analysis.
The official said the new service is expected to grow “from several hundred to several more hundred” operatives in the coming years. Despite the potentially provocative name for the new service, the official played down concerns that the Pentagon was seeking to usurp the role of the CIA or its National Clandestine Service.
This “does not involve new manpower . . . does not involve new authorities,” the official said. Instead, the official said, the DIA is shifting its emphasis “as we look to come out of war zones and anticipate the requirements over the next several years.”
Congressional officials said they were seeking more details about the plan.
TAMPA – For many of us, pets are part of the family. But when you leave your pets in the hands of a sitter, you trust that your pets are being properly cared for.
An I-Team investigation found some pet sitters are skipping out early, leaving your dogs and cats alone at home.
Using hidden cameras, the I-Team wanted to find out if in-home pet sitters really watch your pets for as long as they claim. We asked several pet owners to set up 30-minute visits with local pet sitters. The visits cost $15 to $23 dollars, depending on the sitter.
Mary Alexander of St. Pete Beach hired “Give Me Your Paw” pet services to watch her two labs for the “approximately-30 minute” visits they describe on their website.
“All I wanted was for her to give them a half-hour of TLC,” said Alexander.
When the sitter arrived on the first day, the hidden cameras show she took the dogs out for a walk. But after just 4 minutes, she came back in, filled out a comment card, and took off. The total time she spent at the house was just 10 minutes. The next day, she was in and out in just 8 minutes.
“If someone told me they were going to give me a half-hour massage and they stopped at 15 minutes, I’d be a little angry,” Alexander said.
“Give Me Your Paw” pet services refused to answer our questions on-camera. In an e-mailed statement, the owner said she left early because she felt “threatened” by the two dogs.
She claims she was “greeted by charging dogs with aggressive behavior”. Our cameras show she took the dogs out for a walk and gave them treats without incident. In 3 comment cards written by the sitter, she never notes any aggressive behavior.
She wrote on one, “They were very good!”. An another she wrote, “Starting barking but then when they got settled they were good.”
“I don’t understand why she shouldn’t have wanted to stop and play with the animals if she’s an animal lover,” Alexander said.
We looked at other home pet sitters as well. For years, Joey Trowbridge has been using Wags and Wiggles sitters to watch her cats: Liam, Lola, and Lucy.
“I travel on business often, so it’s kind of a requirement for me,” Trowbridge said.
She says her own security cameras caught the employee skipping out early again and again. Instead of the 30 minutes she says she paid for, her video’s time stamps show the sitter leaving in 15 minutes, 6 minutes, and in one visit, after just 4 minutes.
“I was like, ‘You’ve got to me kidding me.’ This can’t be right,” Trowbridge said, describing her first reaction to seeing the video.
Wags and Wiggles responded that Trowbridge has been a problem client, and that “her cats and not social cats and did not want to play.” They added, “At Wags and Wiggles, it has always been about the proper care and well being of the animals in our care, not about minutes.” They also claim they never promised Joey a 30-minute visit.
But their website did state that “All visits are approximately 1/2 hour,” and “We guarantee you will get the time you paid for!” Since they were notified of the I-Team investigation, both of those lines have been removed from their website.
The I-Team had our cameras rolling as “Wags and Wiggles” sat for another pet owner in Tampa over two days. In these visits, “Wags and Wiggles” delivered exactly what they promised, walking the dog for a full 30 minutes.
“Alone At Home” pet services in Largo also gave the dog the full 30 minutes of attention they promised.
While it may not seem like much, the pet owners we spoke with said the difference between 30 minutes and 5 is huge.
“These are my babies. They couldn’t tell me, “Hey mom, she’s spending five minutes here.” I didn’t know. I had to find out on the security camera,” Trowbridge said.
The Better Business Bureau says anyone using a pet sitter should get in writing exactly what you expect your sitter to do, and you should ask for references before you hire someone.
New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis Thursday denied eavesdropping on opposing coaches during NFL games or even knowing that he could have done so.
Loomis reacted to an ESPN report last week that said wiring in Loomis’s suite at the Superdome, the Saints’ home stadium, allowed him to listen to opposing coaches, which would be a violation of federal law as well as NFL rules.
“I’m angry about it,” Loomis said. “It’s not true. I have a clear conscience.”
Loomis said he has not been contacted by the FBI or state officials about the eavesdrop report but would welcome such a probe to prove the claims were unfounded.
“In my 29 years in the NFL, I have never listened to an opposing team’s communications,” Loomis said. “I have never asked for the capability to listen to an opposing team’s communications.
“I have never inquired as to the possibility of listening in on an opposing team’s communications. And I have never been aware of any capability to listen in on an opposing team’s communications at the Superdome or any NFL stadium.”
The Saints, whose home stadium will host next year’s Super Bowl, have already been hit hard with sanctions for a bounty scheme that rewarded players for knocking opponents out of games.
NFL officials are still deciding upon punishments for players who were involved in the pay-for-injury system, but Saints coach Sean Payton was banned for the entire upcoming NFL season.
Loomis was suspended for eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt for six games. Vitt will serve as Payton’s replacement once his suspension is completed.
“We will be a better league and the Saints will be a better team for having faced this,” Loomis said.
For now, Loomis said, the Saints’ top priority is signing a new contract with star quarterback Drew Brees, who last year had the greatest passing season in NFL history.
“It’s the most important contract we have to do,” Loomis said. “It will get resolved.”
