Crime

Driving infractions

This week the GPD has been busy with raiding an illegal gambling operation along with a myriad of other incidents, including a guy who allegedly exposed himself to a woman walking down the street. Here’s a handful of some of the more newsworthy events:

As motorists prepare for the final holiday weekend of summer, the California Highway Patrol is joining with law enforcement agencies throughout the country and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in an ongoing nationwide drunk driving crackdown. The two-week-long “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, which began Aug. 16, coincides with the CHP’s annual Labor Day Maximum Enforcement Period.

Morgan Hill police arrested a former Safeway employee and his accomplice after the pair allegedly stole about $20,000 cash from the grocery store’s safe early Thursday morning. Just past midnight Aug. 22, Mario Bellinghausen, 22 of Santa Nella, entered the store wearing a surgical mask to hide his identity, according to a press release from Morgan Hill Police. As a former Safeway employee, Bellinghausen was entrusted with the code to the store’s safe. He even spoke to his former manager at the store just before the heist. Bellinghausen stole more than $20,000 from the store's safe and was seen running out of the store to get away in his car, police said. Later that day, officers located Bellinghausen with half of the stolen cash, police said. Then on Aug. 24, police identified and arrested Yesmith Sandoval, 22 of Los Banos, at a pizza parlor in Los Banos, police said. She had the remaining loot from the burglary, minus a share used by Bellinghausen to bail out of jail. Both were booked into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of conspiracy and burglary, police said.Police think the pair orchestrated the burglary as a retaliation to Safeway for terminating Bellinghausen’s employment at the store. Detectives recovered “nearly all” of the cash stolen from Safeway, police said. Anyone with information about this case can contact Morgan Hill Police at (408) 779-2101. 

A GPD dog sniffed out $120,000 worth of cocaine last week on U.S. 101 just north of town. 

Four drivers were arrested for Driving Under the Influence and a fifth driver was arrested for a narcotic-related violation Friday evening during the Gilroy Police Department Traffic Unit’s DUI/Driver’s License checkpoint.

Gilroy Police officers responded to an attempted bank robbery at approximately 4:36 p.m. Friday at Citibank, located at 7050 Camino Arroyo in Gilroy.

Antolin Garcia Torres, the Morgan Hill man accused of kidnapping and killing Sierra LaMar, declined to enter a plea yet again Thursday at the Hall of Justice in San Jose today, as the attorneys involved in the case have yet to complete the evidence sharing process.

The five suspects – including three men from Gilroy – accused of kidnapping a woman two weeks ago in the area of Compton, sexually assaulting her and threatening to force her into prostitution have a felony settlement conference today, Aug. 30, in the Hall of Justice in Riverside.