Crime

Local law enforcement agencies will target drug or alcohol impaired drivers July 4 and 5—a particularly deadly period nationwide—according to a press release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

The Gilroy Police Department responded to a variety of crimes this week, from possession of a controlled substance for sale to inflicting bodily injury on a spouse or cohabitant. Arrests are recorded between June 16 and 23. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Police are still looking for two of the three suspects who allegedly shot at two men, injuring one, while driving west on Spring Avenue in Morgan Hill the night of June 20. Authorities think the shooting, which followed a verbal argument between two groups of men, was gang-related. The suspects “should be considered armed and dangerous,” according to a June 24 press release from MHPD.  Police arrested Deja Maria Ayala, 21 of Gilroy, the night of June 24, according to Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Carson Thomas. Ayala is accused of driving the gray four-door sedan from which the suspects shot the victims. Morgan Hill police responded to the area of Spring Avenue and Monterey Road about 11:14 p.m.  June 20 to investigate a report of shots fired, according to the press release.As officers arrived they found two victims, including a 25-year-old Gilroy man who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his upper torso and arm, police said. The second victim, a 29-year-old Morgan Hill man, was not injured. Officers provided the Gilroy man with first aid until fire and paramedics arrived, according to authorities. The man was later transported to a local trauma center for emergency surgery and continued care. He remains in “serious but stable” condition and is expected to survive. During the investigation officers learned an argument began between the victims and another group of males just behind Mr. Hong’s Chinese restaurant, 16745 Monterey Road, police said. The two victims attempted to walk away from the altercation, but the two male suspects continued to taunt and yell at them. As the victims were walking westbound on Spring Avenue, the two male suspects entered a gray four-door sedan which was driven by Ayala, police said. The young woman drove the vehicle westbound on Spring Avenue, and stopped abruptly near the victims. At that point multiple gunshots were seen and heard coming from inside the vehicle, police said. All three suspects fled the scene in the vehicle which was last seen in the area of Spring and Del Monte avenues, according to the press release. The suspects were later identified as Francisco Diaz, 22, Nicolas Young, 21, and Ayala, police said. All three suspects are from Gilroy. Police identified the suspects through previous “police contacts in Gilroy and Morgan Hill” and video surveillance of the area where the June 20 shooting occurred, according Thomas. The last shooting reported by authorities in the Morgan Hill area was in October 2012, when two men who knew each other had a verbal dispute at a home on Peebles Avenue that ended with the suspect, Mario Calderon, 33, shooting the victim in the arm. The last gang-related drive-by shooting reported by Morgan Hill police occurred Nov. 4, 2011, when five suspects allegedly shot and killed 14-year-old Tara Romero and injured three of her teen friends outside the Village Avante Apartments complex at the intersection of Cosmo and Del Monte avenues. Diaz and Young are still on the run and should be considered armed and dangerous, police said. Anyone with information about this incident can contact Morgan Hill police at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.

Police are looking for three suspects who allegedly shot at two men — injuring one — while driving west on Spring Avenue the night of June 20.Authorities think the shooting, which followed a verbal argument between two groups of men, was gang-related. The suspects “should be considered armed and dangerous,” according to a June 24 press release from MHPD.  Morgan Hill police responded to the area of Spring Avenue and Monterey Road about 11:14 p.m.  June 20 to investigate a report of shots fired, according to the press release.As officers arrived they found two victims, including a 25-year-old Gilroy man who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his upper torso and arm, police said. The second victim, a 29-year-old Morgan Hill man, was not injured. Officers provided the Gilroy man with first aid until fire and paramedics arrived, according to authorities. The man was later transported to a local trauma center for emergency surgery and continued care. He remains in “serious but stable” condition and is expected to survive. During the investigation officers learned an argument began between the victims and another group of males just behind Mr. Hong’s Chinese restaurant, 16745 Monterey Road near the intersection of Spring Avenue, police said. The two victims attempted to walk away from the altercation, but the two male suspects continued to taunt and yell at them. As the victims were walking westbound on Spring Avenue, the two male suspects entered a gray four-door sedan which was driven by a Hispanic female, police said. The young woman drove the vehicle westbound on Spring Avenue, and stopped abruptly near the victims. At that point multiple gunshots were seen and heard coming from inside the vehicle, police said. All three suspects fled the scene and were last seen in the area of Spring and Del Monte avenues, according to the press release. The suspects were later identified as Francisco Diaz, 22, Nicolas Young, 21, and Deja Marie Ayala, 21, police said. All three suspects are from Gilroy. Police identified the suspects through previous “police contacts in Gilroy and Morgan Hill” and video surveillance of the area where the June 20 shooting occurred, according to Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Carson Thomas. The suspects are still on the run and should be considered armed and dangerous, police said. Anyone with information about this incident can contact Morgan Hill police at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.

A Morgan Hill woman charged with embezzling almost $50,000 from a downtown hair salon will appear for a hearing July 17 at South County Courthouse, according to court documents. Roberta J. Haferbecker, 39, was arrested by Morgan Hill police May 23 outside Cherisse’s Hair Salon, 88 E. Second Street, according to police reports. That was two days after her employer Cherisse White, the owner of the salon, reported suspicious financial activity to police. Haferbecker is charged with felony embezzlement, and faces up to three years in Santa Clara County Jail if convicted, according to South County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Steve Lowney. She appeared for a hearing Friday, June 20 at South County Courthouse, but that proceeding was continued to July 17.Though Haferbecker initially denied any wrongdoing when questioned by police in May, she later confessed that she embezzled the funds partly because she did not like her employer and the theft was a “form of retribution,” according to court files. For the last three years while employed at Cherisse’s Hair Salon, Haferbecker had been changing the business’s daily “closing reports,” according to police. On a normal day, White or Haferbecker were tasked with entering total sales and tips into the software-based closing report. Only White and Haferbecker, who was a manager at the salon at the time of her arrest, had access to the software program. But on most business days over the least three years, Haferbecker manipulated the closing reports by falsely increasing the amount of sales and tips she was due, according to the court files. White told police she discovered the ongoing discrepancies when she saw a paper copy of a closing report sitting on the salon’s counter at the end of business one day in May. She thought it was odd that the report listed a number of checks received, while White did not recall receiving any checks that day. She went back through the books and compared daily sales receipts with the amounts entered on the closing reports and noticed an ongoing difference that benefited only Haferbecker, according to police reports. White also noted that the differences stopped when Haferbecker was away from work on vacation or other extended periods. Over a three-year period, Haferbecker stole a total of $49,612.21 from White’s business in this manner, police said. On May 23, police contacted Haferbecker outside the hair salon, according to court files. She initially denied any wrongdoing and told investigators she didn’t know what they were talking about when they told her about the financial discrepancies at the business. However, later in her police interview, Haferbecker confessed to the theft, according to police reports. She told police she made some unwise personal financial decisions in recent years, and attempted to offset those losses by manipulating her employer’s financial reports. She also told police that she was “very unhappy” at work and felt that White had been taking advantage of her, according to the police report. The ongoing theft was retribution toward White, Haferbecker told police. Haferbecker had worked at the hair salon for about seven years. 

A shooting Thursday evening on the 7200 block of Carmel Street—across the street from Glen View Elementary School—may have been motivated by gang affiliation, according to police.

Burglary

The Gilroy Police Department recently responded to a variety of crimes, includingmurder, possession of methamphetamine for sale, child endangerment and grand theft. Arrests were recorded in the GPD blotter June 5 through 12. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty.