[News Boquete] The inside story on the robberies in San Carlos

You may have read in La Prensa Friday about the Tuesday, May 28 robbery in San Carlos, which is reprinted below. What you may not know is how the situation developed and how Alto al Crimen was involved.

Immediately following the attack, Rodny at the Boquete Hot Line received a call from a Boquete couple who were staying in the hotel in San Carlos and were among those robbed. Within an hour, our local private investigator was dispatched to the area for followup. Rob Brown, who many of you have met here in Boquete and is starting an AaC-type organization called Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Santa Clara, was called and immediately stepped up to organize the residents and lead the citizen-investigation. Rob called in Carlos Sanad, until recently the head attorney for the Policia National, to push the investigation to a conclusion. 

This week Thursday, Rob is convening a community meeting to organize against crime. AaC members will be on hand to support his work. Ironically, this was the second time this same hotel has been hit by the same group. The first time, one of the participants took wonderful pictures of himself and his family on one of the stolen iPhones, which he didn't realize were being uploaded to iCloud. Despite having these crystal clear photos and knowing the identity of the suspect, in three months no arrests have been made - and now a second crime in the same place by the same people. 

In the very near future, Alto al Crimen is looking forward to bringing Carlos Sanad to Boquete to speak at the Tuesday meeting about the new accusatory justice system and what it means. This will be a most interesting talk for us all. 

The Alto al Crimen Team

Second armed robbery in same location fires up local residents

RESIDENTS of the San Carlos area near Coronado will meet Thursday, June 6, to devise security strategies after a second armed robbery at  the same location.

On Tuesday, May 28 five armed and masked men burst into the restaurant/hotel Rancho des Toro and brutalized and robbed, owner Joe Wilmoth and  four guests.

In an earlier attack 14 guests were robbed. Wilmoth had increased security after the first event including a silent alarm linked to the San Carlos Police
The thieves approached the building on foot and brandishing pistols knives and machetes and attacked the owner and guests, one was pistol whipped, and another punched in the face before they were tied up with internet wire. Wilmoth managed to press the alarm before he was punched out but, according to witnesses it took the police 50 minutes to arrive, a drive local residents say would normally take five minutes.
Witnesses say they they all carried guns, some had knives, some had machetes, and at least one had a bull-whip. The men gave orders in English with heavy Spanish accents and photographed the bruised faces of before leaving with a safe, mobile phones and personal effects. They escaped by car.
According to Gorgona Vecinos Vigilantes (Neighbourhood Watch), the same night as the Rancho des Toro attack, the offices of Rio Mar were robbed.
No arrests have been made and area residents are determined to find solutions to their security problems, claiming that "In the last year or so, there has been a murder, a couple of kidnappings, multiple break-ins and armed robberies targeted against foreigners in the interior…It is time to fight back."

Three community "safety" organisations in Panama are working together to fight these criminals:Neighbours Helping Neighbours (NHN), Alto Al Crimen (AAC) in Boquete and Gorgona VecinosVigilantes are working on this case together.
A support meeting is will be held Thursday June 6 at 5 PM at Ranch des Toro We hope to raise money for a reward for information leading to the arrest of these criminals, and for legal fees to support the prosecution of these thugs.
"There will be no weapons discussions, or sales pitches " says meeting coordinator Rob Brown. "There will be presenting our plan on how we plan to identifying these punks, have them arrested, and convicted."
 

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