In 2011, several key cases in Gilroy were resolved in the
courtroom. Here they are in no particular order.
Tow scammers sent to prison: Vincent Cardinalli, 68, and his son, Paul Greer, 34, were sentenced in January for running a tow-and-sue scam that swindled thousands of dollars from unwitting motorists in Santa Clara and San Benito counties. Cardinalli was given 14 years, while Greer got eight. The two were arrested in 2007.
Gartman pleads, pays up: Former Gilroy City Councilman Craig Gartman, charged May 27 with felony grand theft of approximately $9,000 from a private Memorial Day parade fund, pleaded no contest to a reduced misdemeanor charge Dec. 8. Gartman, who has since moved to Maine, was sentenced to two years unsupervised probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. He also paid restitution to the Gilroy Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Homeless men sentenced for park rape: Cresencio Evarado Blas, 30, and Benancio Quinones, 50, charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at their makeshift encampment at Christmas Hill Park in 2009, pleaded no contest in February to child rape. Blas was sentenced to six years in prison, Quinones was sentenced to eight, and the two will be deported to Mexico after serving their terms.
Kidnappers get 20-year terms: Nathaniel Garcia, 22, Catrina Cameron, 23, and Tamaya Duenas, 24, pleaded no contest in July to kidnapping two men, robbing them and forcing them to jump off a Hecker Pass bridge following a drug-and-booze binge in October 2010. All three were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Former councilman’s son takes plea deal: Pete Valdez III, the son of a former Gilroy City Councilman, was sentenced in June to 12 years in prison for assault on a police officer after prosecutors dropped attempted murder charges that stemmed from a 2007 run-in with GPD. Valdez pointed a gun at Officer John Ballard and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed, and was possibly rigged to do so, prosecutors said.
Rape suspect caught ‘in the act’: Jesse Arias, 52, whom prosecutors called a “genius” at luring young girls by offering drugs and gifts in exchange for sex acts, was sentenced in August to fewer than three years in prison after police raided his home three months earlier, discovering a 15-year-old runaway female. Arias was convicted of lewd acts with a minor, and police found several methamphetamine pipes, pornographic movies and sex toys in his Old Gilroy Street trailer.
Unusual murder charge dropped: Robert Barrios, 22, Heather Ashford, 20, and Angel Solorzano, 21, faced murder charges in the 2008 shooting death of friend Larry Martinez thanks to a controversial and rarely invoked “provocative act murder” theory, in which a person can charged even if they didn’t commit an action that directly caused the death. But prosecutors dropped the unusual charge, and the three were released after spending two years in custody. On June 30, they were convicted of conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, with an added qualifier that it occurred for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
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