olice nabbed a man for trying to kidnap a teenage girl and
believe he might be involved in a rash of attempted sexual assaults
and stalking incidents in the past three months.
Police nabbed a man for trying to kidnap a teenage girl and believe he might be involved in a rash of attempted sexual assaults and stalking incidents in the past three months.
A 16-year-old girl was walking home from Gilroy High School along Glenview Drive about 3 p.m. Friday when Jose David Gonzalez-Raygoza, 26, approached her. Speaking only in Spanish, he told her to get into his truck – a white 2000 Ford F150.
The teen called her mother and ran to her house nearby. Gonzalez-Raygoza left the area, but did not go away. During the next two and a half hours, he hovered around the teen and her mother. They spotted him twice before calling police.
Police came and took the victim’s statement. When asked to describe the suspect, she pointed to a white truck that had just pulled into the 76 gas station on the corner of Monterey and 10th streets. Gonzalez-Raygoza, who was driving the truck, was arrested without incident on suspicion of attempted kidnapping, annoying or molesting a child, and driving without a license. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also put him on immigration hold.
Gonzalez-Raygoza was in the country illegally doing construction work, said Joel Rodriguez, who lives at the immaculately landscaped two-story yellow house on the 7100 block of Yorktown Drive that Gonzalez-Raygoza listed as his residence. Gonzalez-Raygoza – described as a clean-shaven, heavy-set man about 6 feet tall with black hair who did not do drugs or drink heavily – rented a room in the house for about two months before moving to Modesto about a week ago, said Rodriguez as toddler cousins circled his feet.
“He’s a good guy,” Rodriguez said in broken English. “He helped … around the house, yard, everything.”
The block in south Gilroy was full of children playing basketball in driveways and running around on manicured lawns Monday, a day off for students in honor of Veterans Day. Neighbors were “shocked and surprised” to hear that Gonzalez-Raygoza had been arrested. He, like the multi-generational family he rented from, was known for lending a hand on neighbors’ construction projects.
Police believe Gonzalez-Raygoza might be the same man who followed a 10-year-old girl outside her house near the corner of Princevalle and West Eighth streets on Oct. 7. During that incident, a man between 30 and 40 with black hair and moustache followed the girl in a white truck. He sped off when an adult neighbor went out into the street.
Police are also investigating whether Gonzalez-Raygoza was part of a string of possible attempted sexual assaults. In October, a dark-skinned adult male with a moustache appeared three times in a white sedan to watch and approach a 12-year-old girl on Alder Street in southwest Gilroy.
Two other possible attempted sexual assaults in August and September involved a marred white van or truck, both driven by similarly described suspects. Police would not say whether a white sedan or van was found at Gonzalez-Raygoza’s residence.
“Right now, it’s unknown if this person is responsible for all the incidents or a few of the incidents,” Sgt. Jim Gillio said.
On Monday, police sent a press release regarding the incident to the Gilroy Unified School District and high school and officers will speak with administrators early this morning. However, police will not release a photo of Gonzalez-Raygoza because they do not want witnesses from other cases to mistakenly identify him as the suspect, having seen him in the newspaper, Gillio said.
In addition, until police have closed all of these cases, “we’re not going to stop our vigorous patrols,” he said.
Residents of areas where incidents occurred appreciate the sustained effort as they are still on edge despite the arrest.
“I’m comforted that this one is arrested, but there seems to be more weirdos around,” said Kim Reed, mother of five and a resident of Eighth Street near Princevalle Street. “I’ll definitely keep my eyes open.”
