5 O.W. bank robbery suspects charged
It doesn’t always turn out like this, but police today are taking some well deserved praise for the apprehension of five suspects they believe were involved in last Tuesday’s robbery of the Belize Bank in Orange Walk. News 5’s Patrick Jones was on hand in that town this morning as the accused were booked.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Over a hundred people gathered in front of Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court this morning for a glimpse of the accused bank robbers.
The short distance from the police station to the courtroom gave them the chance to catch a look at Israel Carpio, Douglas Jimenez, Carlos Campos, Juan Rivas, and Jose Henriquez. All five, along with two others, Benjamin Orellano and Rafael Campos, are accused of last Tuesday’s armed robbery of the Orange Walk branch of the Belize Bank.
As heavily armed soldiers and police officers stood guard at the courtroom door, the defendants, appearing without attorneys, took to the witness box.
When Magistrate Roberto Ordoñez read the charges of robbery and aggravated assault to the five accused, Carpio and Rivas told the court that they were pleading guilty, but they were doing so with a short explanation. When asked for that explanation the two men told Ordoñez that when they were arrested, the police beat them to confess
Officer in Charge of the Orange Walk Police, Superintendent Mario Vernon, says the accusations are those of desperate men looking for any way out.
Supt. Mario Vernon, O.I.C., Orange Walk Police
“Not that I know of. And I expect these things to come out in court, because that’s the remark prisoners normally use when they want some sort of sympathy, especially if they are trying to seek out bail. They try and persuade the Magistrate to exercise some leniency or sympathy on them by saying that they have been subjected to some sort of brutality. But that is not so.”
But the amended Criminal Justice Act takes the option of bail away from the lower court and Magistrate Ordoñez remanded the men to prison until their next court appearance on April twenty-ninth. Carpio, Jimenez, Rivas, and Henriquez, all Salvadorans who became naturalized Belizeans, are residents of Caye Caulker, while Campos gave his address as San Narciso Village. While police initially sought five men who fled the scene after the shootout, Vernon says indications are that twice that amount of manpower was involved.
Supt. Mario Vernon
“One, we understand one is out of the country and another one is on the loose. But I am counting up to number ten, because I know that there is someone out there very seriously injured. We have found an indication in Orange Walk Town with a fairly large concentration of blood and a trail that is fairly large drippings of blood. So somebody has lost a lot blood out there and that person needs medical attention at this time.”
So far no one seeking treatment for gunshot wounds has turned up at the hospital or clinics in Orange Walk, and police believe that someone may be helping out the injured felon. As the investigation continues, Vernon says the police dragnet will capture more than the two remaining suspects.
Supt. Mario Vernon
“This breakthrough as it is now is a small circle. There is a wider circle that we need to cover and that wider circle will bring in the conspirators, people who assisted but did not go to the bank. They assisted probably with the vehicle, assisted with gasoline, assisted with financing, assisted with firearms, so there is a wider circle we need to investigate. That will take us the length of time.”
One of the persons the police are looking for is the owner of this van used as a get away vehicle in the robbery. Vernon says the vehicle was not reported stolen. With its rough, fresh coat of black paint, and license plates that do not match its registration, the van raises a lot of questions, which only the unnamed and unfound owner could answer. And even though only one of the guns used in the incident was recovered at the scene, Vernon says the men on the run are not considered dangerous.
Supt. Mario Vernon
“The way I see it, this particular bunch is broken up now, so they are just running wild and confused. I think they are tying to get the farther away form the law as possible as it is now.”
Patrick Jones
“Is he considered armed and dangerous?”
Supt. Mario Vernon
“Not that we know of before. But because he had heavy powered weapons, yes, those weapons are still out there, but organising themselves is difficult at this time for them.”
Patrick Jones
“The police will now have a month and a half to consolidate the information being gathered in the ongoing investigation which while concentrated here in the north, stretches all the way to Caye Caulker village. At the Magistrate’s Court in Orange Walk Town, Patrick Jones, for News 5.”
Police think that Rafael Campos, believed to have fled the country, is the ringleader. All seven people charged this morning are accused of robbery of the bank and eleven counts of aggravated assault on the staff and customers. The men will also be charged with two counts of unlawful imprisonment of Bank Manager Efrain Martin and his assistant Lucy Cervantes. The youngest accused, twenty year old Juan Jose Rivas, is the son of the robber shot dead at the scene, Gregorio Rivas. The suspects were captured beginning Wednesday in Benque Viejo, Corozal, and Caye Caulker. In court today the amount of money said to be stolen was fifty-one thousand, four hundred and forty-six dollars and forty-two cents. Of that amount twenty thousand, one hundred and thirty-eight dollars has been recovered.
