GILROY
– Monterey police, looking for leads on a burglary and theft of
$1 million in merchandise from an antiques store there on Jan. 1,
thought the perpetrators of a Gilroy Zales jewelry store burglary
on Jan. 8 might be responsible.
GILROY – Monterey police, looking for leads on a burglary and theft of $1 million in merchandise from an antiques store there on Jan. 1, thought the perpetrators of a Gilroy Zales jewelry store burglary on Jan. 8 might be responsible.
But Gilroy police Detective John Marfia, who is investigating the Zales heist, doesn’t see the connection.
Marfia does, however, see a possible link between the Zales burglary and at least one theft at a Robinson’s-May department store in Southern California.
According to Gilroy police Detective Sgt. Jack Robinson, Marfia’s supervisor, Marfia did not think the ways the burglars went about their business in the Monterey and Gilroy thefts matched. Nor did the type of store they targeted – a chain jewelry store in a Gilroy outlet mall versus an independent antiques store in downtown Monterey.
“According to Detective Marfia, it’s not the same crew,” Robinson said on Monday. “(The Zales burglars), as far as we can tell, hit chain-type stores, and they’re very methodical.”
Gilroy detectives declined to release further details of what they know for fear of jeopardizing their investigation. Monterey police detectives were off work Monday for Martin Luther King Day and were unavailable for comment as of press time.
Meanwhile, Robinson said, detectives have “very good leads” on three alleged burglars who were caught on Zales’ video camera but slipped through the grasp of police that day.
Police caught two suspects that morning, both from Los Angeles: Willie Cross, 37, allegedly one of the four men caught on tape in Zales and Victoria Jefferson, 27, the alleged getaway car driver who led police on a 40-mile chase from Gilroy to Interstate Highway 5, where California Highway Patrol punctured her tires with a “spike strip” they laid on the road. Police found $125,000 worth of jewelry in the trunk of the gray Pontiac Jefferson was driving.
During the chase on state Highway 152, police said Jefferson stopped the Pontiac near Lover’s Lane and let four men out. A four-hour manhunt ensued in which police caught Cross, but no others.
Police said Cross and Jefferson were uncooperative in interviews and gave little information.
As the chase began, Gilroy police Cpl. Jimmy Callahan crashed his patrol car into a tree on Arroyo Circle, in the vicinity of the outlets. A CHP report on the accident is still not complete.
