Crime

A Gilroy man was arrested and charged with growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants behind the façade of a furniture store in the heart of downtown Gilroy, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said.

More than a week has passed since Diana Armbruster discovered her family's beloved 17-year-old Arabian mare missing from their south Gilroy home.

Commercial burglarySomeone broke into a Conex storage box and stole a generator valued at $600 between Oct. 10, 2014 Jan. 9 on the 3200 block of Pacheco Pass at Canada Road in Gilroy.Identity theftSomeone fraudulently opened a New York Company credit card account and charged $454.30 between midnight Oct. 22, 2014 and 6:29 p.m. Jan. 8 on the zero block of San Martin Avenue in San Martin.BurglarySomeone entered a property on the 13000 block of Columbet Avenue in San Martin between 11:59 p.m. Jan. 4 and 9:30 a.m. Jan. 6 and stole an antique grinding wheel.DrugsA 24-year-old man was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of heroin at 1:16 p.m. Jan. 12 on Monterey Road at Old Gilroy Street in Gilroy. The suspect was found to be in possession of a marijuana pipe, heroin, heroin needles, a spoon, shoe laces and a lighter.A 35-year-old woman was charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance at 8:55 a.m. Jan. 12 on Alexander Street at Tenth Street in Gilroy.A 42-year-old man was charged with possession of a controlled substance at 6:46 p.m. Jan. 11 on Dunlap Avenue at Furlong Avenue in Gilroy. The suspect was on active probation and, during a probation search, officers found methamphetamine, cocaine and a glass pipe.A 37-year-old woman was charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance at 4:09 p.m. Jan. 10 on Hanna Street at Fifth Street in Gilroy.An 18-year-old man was charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia at 10 a.m. Jan. 10 on Sixth Street at Rogers Lane in Gilroy.An 18-year-old man was charged with possession of a switch blade and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana at 2:19 a.m. Jan. 9 on Monterey Highway at First Street in Gilroy.—All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records. 

The Gilroy man killed Jan. 9 when a Union Pacific vehicle slammed into his pickup truck has been identified as Donald Williams, 54, the Santa Clara County Coroner-Medical Examiner confirmed.

A Morgan Hill man will serve nearly five years in prison after admitting he possessed one of the largest collections of child pornography ever found in Silicon Valley, according to authorities.Paul Lawrence Vella, 60, entered a guilty plea Aug. 4, 2014 in federal court in the Northern District of California, according to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.Vella, an engineer, admitted to investigators that he used his computer to download thousands of images of child pornography through a P2P network, and saved those images on hard drives, discs and other digital devices, according to Haag.Authorities from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified 915 known child victims from his collections of child pornography, Haag added.Vella admitted to the court that he knowingly possessed more than 600 images of child pornography, according to authorities. Law enforcement also found more than 86,000 images and more than 2,100 videos depicting child pornography in Vella’s possession.Some of the images and videos showed prepubescent minors and images portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct, authorities said. Some depicted the forcible rape of, and other violence against young children.Court documents revealed that Vella possessed one of the largest collections of child pornography ever found in Silicon Valley.Vella’s arrest and conviction are the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, Haag added.After serving a sentence of 59 months in prison, Vella will be on supervised probation for seven years, according to Haag’s statement. He will also be required to register as a sex offender, participate in a sex offender treatment program and pay $29,500 in restitution.Vella has been in custody since he pleaded guilty Aug. 4.

Police arrested two minors and charged them with attempted murder for their involvement in a stabbing this weekend in Gilroy that may have been gang-motivated.

The Gilroy Police Department made arrests for a variety of crimes the past week, including burglary, vehicle theft, possession of a dirk or dagger and indecent exposure. Arrests were recorded in the GPD blotter—a public document obtained under the California Public Record's Act—between Jan. 6 through 13. All suspects remain innocent until proven guilty, and an appearance in the arrest log does not signify guilt for the listed crime/s.

The Gilroy man killed Jan. 9 when a Union Pacific vehicle slammed into his pickup truck was identified Friday as Donald Williams, 54; the cause of death was suffocation, the Santa Clara County Corner-Medical Examiner said.

Officers representing 13 county law enforcement agencies arrested 422 individuals for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a final “Avoid the 13” report released Jan. 5 by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department.

A Gilroy woman has died of her injuries following a crash on Christmas Day outside of Gilroy, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office confirmed Monday. Socorro Alfaro, 64, was injured in a two-vehicle wreck near the intersection of Roop Road and New Avenue at approximately 12:30 p.m. Dec. 25.She succumbed to her injuries—complications of multiple traumatic injuries due to the collision—just after 6:15 p.m. New Year’s Eve, according to the Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.The wreck occurred when Alfaro, driving a Chrysler PT Cruiser, was heading westbound on Roop Road when she failed to yield at the intersection and turned southbound onto New Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol. The PT Cruiser collided with the left side of an SUV headed southbound on New, which caused the SUV—a Toyota RAV4—to roll over onto the southbound shoulder of the road, authorities said.While Alfaro suffered serious injuries during the wreck, she was conscious and provided a statement to the CHP. She told authorities she was driving between 20 and 30 miles per hour when she turned onto New Avenue, saw the oncoming vehicle but was unable to stop in time to prevent the wreck.The driver of the RAV4 was transported to a local hospital as a precautionary measure, but sustained no serious injuries, according to the CHP.