Police arrested a Gilroyan and another man in connection with
two purse snatching incidents in Morgan Hill earlier this month and
last month.
Police arrested two men in connection with two purse snatching incidents earlier this month and last month.
The two men were arrested in San Jose, one Thursday morning and another Friday night, according to Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Jerry Neumayer.
Gilroyan Lewis Flores, 42, and San Jose resident Richard Ornelas, 22, were arrested late last week.
About 6 p.m. last Saturday, a male approached a 39-year-old woman from behind as she was pushing a cart entering the store, police said. The suspect grabbed her purse from the cart and ran into an awaiting vehicle occupied by a driver and a passenger. A month earlier, on July 8, a man ran up to a 72-year-old woman from behind as she was walking to her car in the parking lot of the East Dunne Avenue Safeway store. The man grabbed her purse and fled into an awaiting vehicle. Police later determined the vehicle had been stolen from the San Jose area and was later found abandoned.
Local police were working with law enforcement agencies where similar incidents have occurred. The police believed that the same men were responsible for both incidents. Both have been booked into county jail.
There’s possibly a third suspect, but Neumayer said the police did not yet have enough information on who that might be.
Working in conjunction with the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, Morgan Hill police detectives traced the getaway vehicle from the second snatching, a black Toyota Solara, to a home in San Jose.
At the home they found Lewis Flores, 42, of Gilroy, who was on parole for domestic violence and forging checks. Parked in the driveway on Thursday morning was a stolen car.
About 6 a.m. that morning, Morgan Hill police, task force members and San Jose police arrested Flores and another man, Tee Ballin of San Jose, as they got into the Solara in the driveway to leave the home. Both men were arrested during a high-risk stop for possession of a stolen vehicle and violation of parole.
During a search of the home where Flores was found, detectives located numerous items of stolen property from open San Jose cases and two women, Amy Blalock, 31, the registered owner of the Solara, and Danielle Shamblee, 28, who also lives at the address. Both were also arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property, a charge also added to Flores and Ballin.
Surveillance footage from a Wal-Mart in San Jose showed Flores trying to use the July 8 victim’s credit card. With this evidence, Flores was charged for robbery and unlawful use of a stolen credit card.
Further investigation revealed Ornelas’ involvement in the purse snatchings. Morgan Hill’s Special Operations arrested Ornelas at his San Jose home about 8:15 p.m. Friday. He was arrested on suspicion of outstanding warrants as well as robbery and possession of stolen property.
Ornelas was also on active probation for possession of drugs, a stolen vehicle and stolen property. Ornelas had two felony warrants for stolen vehicle and possession of drugs for sale and two misdemeanor warrants for possession of a switchblade and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The purse snatchings are considered by police to be separate incidents from the trio of violent assaults that occurred in March. In those incidents, an unknown man followed women as they were leaving the stores and entered or tried to enter the back seat of their cars as the women got into the driver’s seat. During one of the crimes, the man used a stun gun to electrically shock the woman, who he also hit at least once with his fists.
The stores’ corporate officials have responded to the series of crimes by employing more private security guards who patrol the interior and parking lots at both stores. They have also installed more video surveillance cameras both inside and outside the stores, according to Safeway spokeswoman Susan Houghton.
Many Monday morning shoppers at both Safeways hadn’t heard of the purse snatchings, but recalled easily the March assaults and said they’ve been more careful since.
“You just have to be aware,” Carol Ciccone said, adding that incidents like these reminded her that the town could use more police.
“There’s piece of mind that comes with having extra police force,” she said.
Erin Parks said the news would make her more alert during her trips to the grocer.
“Everybody feels very comfortable, it’s a small town. But no matter where you’re at, you have to be vigilant.”
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming applauded the numerous Good Samaritans who took action in both purse snatchings. In the first, a witness tried to block the suspect’s escape with his vehicle, to no avail. In the second, two witnesses followed the suspects for a few miles but lost site of them in the area of Condit Road. The trailing witnesses got the suspect vehicle’s license plate number, leading detectives to the home where Flores was staying.
“The police department is indebted to the numerous citizen witnesses who assisted us by getting involved and supplying a vehicle license number and suspect descriptions,” Cumming wrote in an e-mail to the Times. “Without their help these crimes could have gone unsolved. It was really a partnership with citizens combined with aggressive, smart, traditional police work working with other police agencies that made this case.”
Cumming noted that rumors that any of the recent Safeway incidents were gang initiations are false.
“They were simply crimes of opportunity perpetrated by thieves who wanted to get quick cash and credit cards,” he wrote of the purse snatchings.
