Crime

A man who allegedly tried to shoot a process server at his residence is at large as police attempt to locate him, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Jan. 28.  At about 11:15am Jan. 27, deputies were sent to the 6000 block of Mount...

Police arrested a 36-year-old San Jose man on suspicion of

The Gilroy High School math teacher accused of having sex with a

A 34-year-old Cupertino woman driving lost on Bolsa Road in

Top civil rights and sexual harassment attorney Gloria Allred sued Gilroy’s school district Thursday for negligence and failing to safeguard a 15-year-old high school girl from a teacher’s lurid sexual taunts even after her mother complained.The lawsuit presents publicly for the first time the explicit nature of some of the text messages Gilroy High School chemistry teacher Doug Le is alleged to have sent to the girl in October 2014.It was filed in Santa Clara County Superior court on behalf of the girl and her mother, Celest Benn of Gilroy.San Jose Police arrested Le, 25, on April 26 on suspicion of enticing minor boys by dressing as a woman and asking them for nude photos, according to the lawsuit and police.Le resigned from his teaching position April 29, some 18 months after Benn first alerted school officials to his behavior and the danger to her daughter and others.Le also coached track and was a student mentor and advisor at GHS, according to the suit.At a Thursday press conference in front of the Gilroy Unified School District offices on Arroyo Circle, Allred would not speak aloud all of the words in the texts, using a single letter at one point instead of the word for the male genitalia.They were, however, listed in the lawsuit as follows, with some editing: “You suck d . . . Yeah your whore mouth can fit whole apples in there . . . You’ll die alone . . .” and another about defecating on the teenager.The suit alleges the district and high school’s failure to prevent and stop Le’s behavior more than a year ago harmed the girl and that stopping and reporting him then might saved as many as 500 minor boys from Le’s advances.It calls Le’s and the district’s behavior “outrageous and extreme” and alleges also that the district knew that “Le had engaged in dangerous and inappropriate conduct, both before his employment [by GUSD] and during that employment.”Allred also claims that the district violated state law by not reporting what they knew to the proper authorities.Benn at the press conference read a prepared statement in English and Spanish that said, in part, “I am disgusted that the district did not do enough to protect my daughter. She had to leave her friends, her classes at Gilroy High School that we had moved cross country for her to attend.” Her daughter transferred from Gilroy High School to Christopher High School, but Allred said Le’s harassment of the girl continued even after Benn reported his behavior to school officials.Benn has said she tried to meet with GHS principal Marco Sanchez and district superintendent Debbie Flores the day after learning of the texts, but they refused to see her. It was only after she threatened to go to the media that the district looked into the matter, she said.Le was “slapped on the wrist,” Allred said, and was allowed to continue teaching and his sexual harassment of minor students.The suit was filed “to hold the school district accountable for the harm they have caused her and our family,” Benn said.Vicki Barone, a GHS English Learners teacher, said she helped train Le to work with English Learner students in his advanced placement, biomedical courses.At the press conference, she told Allred that Le was classified as a temporary, or non-permanent, employee, and later said those employees can be let go at any time.“Yet this guy ends up back, that is weird,” she said.Barone accused the district and high school of being more interested in its wrestling program and advanced placement classes than in doing the right thing.“Kids are being harmed,” she said, adding that when she emailed colleagues at GHS about the Thursday press conference she received hostile responses.When two women spoke at Wednesday’s school board meeting in defense of principal Sanchez, who is widely respected in the community, some in the audience applauded them.The district, in a statement read at both the Wednesday board meeting and Thursday press conference, claims it took all the action it could against Le and that while unacceptable and unprofessional, his behavior was not criminal and did not rise to the level of dismissal.The lawsuit alleges Benn’s daughter “has suffered and continues to suffer great pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life.”The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, including punitive damages.

The Avoid the 13 Santa Clara County DUI Campaign is reminding citizens that law enforcement will be stepping up patrols and cracking down on impaired drivers throughout the weekend. The upped vigilance is part of the ongoing “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” enforcement crackdown to catch and arrest impaired drivers who put themselves and others at risk.

The YMCA child care employee who is accused of sexually assaulting multiple small children under his care at a Morgan Hill facility appeared in court Tuesday, but the hearing was continued.Nicolas Lhermine, 20 of Morgan Hill, remains in custody on charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 12, oral copulation on a child younger than 10, possession of child pornography and production of child pornography - all in relation to five victims identified since his arrest by Morgan Hill police in July. Lhermine’s hearing Tuesday at South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill was continued to Dec. 10 at the request of both his attorney, Riccardo Ippolito, and Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott who is prosecuting the case. Four of Lhermine’s alleged victims are age 7 or younger, and were victimized by Lhermine while they were under his care at a child care program at Paradise Valley Elementary School, according to investigators. The youngest alleged victim is 3 years old. The child care program was run by the YMCA, according to authorities.The fifth alleged victim is a 17-year-old girl of whom investigators found nude pictures on Lhermine’s mobile phone, authorities said. The girl was not affiliated with the YMCA program, but Lhermine knew her.Lhermine was arrested by Morgan Hill police July 12, when a 6-year-old girl under his care at the YMCA program told her parents and investigators that Lhermine forced her to engage in a sex act in the bathroom at the day care site, authorities said. During the initial investigation, police found the pictures of the 17-year-old girl on his phone. During a follow-up investigation which included assistance from YMCA staff to reach out to the parents of all children who had ever been under Lhermine’s care at the YMCA, authorities identified three more alleged female victims - ages 3, 5 and 7. Lhermine faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to authorities.The suspect worked as a child care aide at the YMCA day care facility during the alleged assaults, and has held numerous positions - including youth soccer coach and child care at other YMCA facilities - in his four years of employment at the YMCA, according to authorities.

A hearing to evaluate Kevin Fifield's ability to stand trial for

The Gilroy Police Department is targeting drunk drivers this Memorial Day weekend with a DUI checkpoint and using extra DUI-focused patrol officers.