GILROY
– Residents of Hagen Court had been telling a landlord since
January that one of their neighbors was dealing drugs from her
government-subsidized rental house, a neighbor said Monday.
GILROY – Residents of Hagen Court had been telling a landlord since January that one of their neighbors was dealing drugs from her government-subsidized rental house, a neighbor said Monday.
On Friday night, after about a month of investigating, police and the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team served a search warrant at 7345 Hagen Court, where they arrested five people, including Rachele Marie Casteneda, 29, a retail manager who lived at the home.
Police seized methamphetamine, the quantity of which they did not reveal, and would have seized more of the drug, said the neighbor, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, but Casteneda and fellow suspect Michelle Yvonne Lujan flushed a large quantity down a toilet as police kicked open the door.
Among other charges, Casteneda and Lujan, 31, of 1060 San Miguel St., were arrested on suspicion of destroying evidence, a misdemeanor.
Casteneda also faces felonies for maintaining a place for drug use or sale, possession of meth and committing a felony while on bail, plus a misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia.
She was on bail for a July 4 arrest by city police on charges of possession for sale of meth and driving with a suspended license. Lujan, who was unemployed, faces charges for possession of meth and possession of paraphernalia.
Casteneda was living in the home, in the upper-middle-class neighborhood with her two children, the neighbor said. Hagen Court is a cul-de-sac between Wren and Miller avenues, just north of Uvas Park Drive. Casteneda rented the unit through Section 8, a federal low-income housing program.
Police also arrested Jamie Enrique Alvarez, 42, of 11010 Center St., on suspicion of possession of meth for sale and possession of meth after he showed up at Hagen Court at 10 p.m., an hour after police arrested Casteneda and Lujan. Alvarez, a self-employed construction worker, was a regular visitor to the home, according to the neighbor.
The same happened at 10:30 to Maria Concepcion Castillo, 31, of 9550 Santa Teresa Blvd. Castillo, a tape librarian at IBM in San Jose, was booked on suspicion of possessing meth.
Then, at 11:20, Marco Antonio Lopez, 26, of 6951 Church St., arrived and was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of a controlled substance.
