Morgan Hill
– Police arrested a Morgan Hill man who was allegedly stalking a
woman and threatening to harm her.
Joseph D. Deabreu Jr., 27, was taken to county jail on Wednesday
on suspicion of stalking and making criminal threats, felonies, and
a misdemeanor charge of making harassing phone calls.
Morgan Hill – Police arrested a Morgan Hill man who was allegedly stalking a woman and threatening to harm her.
Joseph D. Deabreu Jr., 27, was taken to county jail on Wednesday on suspicion of stalking and making criminal threats, felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of making harassing phone calls.
The woman, according to Morgan Hill police Lt. Terry Booten, was an acquaintance of Deabreu, but “there was no dating relationship.”
The month-long investigation began when the woman began receiving text messages to her cell phone on Oct. 12, Booten said. She was initially unable to identify the source, but called police Oct. 15.
“We attempted contact with the suspect via the cell phone number, but only got a message that didn’t help us with the identity of the suspect at that time,” Booten said.
As the messages continued, the phone numbers and content of the messages changed.
“They became more graphic and more threatening,” Booten said.
The woman began to believe the person sending the texts was someone she knew because of the content in some of the messages.
“Through the course of the investigation, detectives were able to determine that the messages were sent by those prepaid phones you can buy at local convenience stores and other locations,” said Booten. “As the investigation was developing, detectives were obtaining surveillance tapes from various stores where those phones are sold and getting the phone records and speaking with representatives from the phone companies.”
Eventually, Booten said, a suspect was identified, and an arrest warrant and a search warrant for the suspect’s home were obtained. On Wednesday, officers served the warrants and arrested Deabreu without incident.
“During the course of the interrogation, the suspect admitted to making the phone calls,” Booten said.
