-Published: Tuesday, January 14, 2020-



By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Prosecutor's Office of Transparency and Anti-Corruption said Monday that a judge of the Criminal Court decided not to apply any type of pre-trial measures against a U.S. citizen and a Costa Rican who are suspects of the alleged theft of 53 bullet panels. The panels make up bulletproof vests that belonged to the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, it  presented to the judge the request of pre-trial measures against the two suspects, such as the prohibition of approaching witnesses, and the prohibition of leaving the country.

However, the measures were rejected by a judge of the Criminal Court of Extraordinary Shift of San José. Then the Prosecutor's Office appealed that resolution and awaits a new hearing to be scheduled to repeat the request, said the Prosecutor's Office in its statement.

It is expected that today the Prosecutor's Office will releases a new report on the final decision regarding the appeal.

Friday agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization arrested a 45-years-old, U.S. citizen surnamed Stirling as a suspect in the theft of 53 bullet panels, which were part of the pieces that make up the bulletproof vests, that were owned by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation.

According to the agents' report, the case began in August 2019, when a 43-years-old Costa Rican man surnamed Bermúdez-Castillo reported that 10 bullet panels that belong to the ministry's traffic police were missing. He is now a suspect in the same case.

According to the investigation, Bermúdez-Castillo, who is an employee of the ministry, filed a complaint about the disappearance of the bullet panels he "had saved in the ministry warehouse."

When the agents began the investigation, approximately 15 days after the first complaint, another complaint was filed by a group of employees of that same ministry. That later complaint said that there were anomalies in the complaint made by Bermúdez-Castillo.

According to the second complaint, before the first complaint was filed, Bermúdez-Castillo had arrived at the office where the other employees were working and he asked them to sign a document that said they accepted and had received 20 bullet panels.

After the other employees signing the document, Bermúdez-Castillo told them that he would deliver the 20 bullet panels by himself, said the agents.

The employees signed the receipt of the 20 bullet panels, but they alleged Bermúdez-Castillo never delivered the equipment, said the agents say in their statement. The bulletproof panels were supposed to be used in vests worn by members of the Traffic Police, which is attached to the ministry.

Through the investigation, the agents managed to obtain information alleging that Bermúdez-Castillo was the one who took the bullet panels and removed them from the ministry facilities in the car of the second suspect, the U.S. citizen surnamed Stirling.

According to the investigation, Stirling had free access to enter the ministry, using a special card because he "provided training on police practice issues," agents said.

Also, Bermúdez-Castillo, using his position as an employee of the ministry, issued an order to allowing Stirling to enter and exit the ministry facilities without the regular inspection of him or his car, they said.

Due to this investigation, Bermúdez-Castillo was suspended from his position. After that, the agents arrested him during a raid on his house Friday in San Ramón in Alajuela.

Also seized from Bermúdez-Castillo's house, was a 9-mm. firearm, a bulletproof vest, one cell phone and documentation for the case, agents reported.

Stirling also was arrested Friday when he was leaving Costa Rica for Panamá at the Paso Canoas border crossing. Agents confiscated his two cell phones at the arrest, they said.

According to the judicial agents, Stirling's house in Granadilla in the district of Curridabat in San José was also raided, where agents said hey seized a bulletproof vest, two .40-caliber pistols, two caps with identification of public institutions, more than 2,700 rounds ammunition including .40-caliber and 9-mm. and shotgun shells, said the agents in their statement.

Stirling was brought from the border at Paso Canoas in an aircraft of the Ministry of Security to the Public Ministry cells in San José.

Both suspects were jailed on Friday at the Public Ministry cells, where they were interrogated by the judicial agents.

Bermúdez-Castillo, who held a high position in the security department of the ministry, is facing an allegation of embezzlement, called peculado in Spanish, according to Walter Espinoza, the director of the Judicial Investigation Organization.

The video recorded by the agents, of the arrest of Stirling, can be reached at the Judicial Investigation Organization YouTube channel.
 
 
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