Crime

Former Gilroy resident Aaron Carlon was sentenced to five and a half years in prison on Monday, Dec. 9 after he pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California San Jose Division to one of two felony counts of child pornography.

Items in this blotter recorded from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's substation in San Martin.

Here's your weekly digest of criminal happenings in Gilroy, including a string of vehicle thefts on the same day, an alleged robbery at gunpoint and a man who was arrested for driving under the influence after trying to evade a DUI checkpoint.

The Gilroy Police Department responded to a variety of crimes this week, including possession of a weapon on school grounds, grand theft, burglary and battery against an elder or dependent. Arrests were recorded in this week's GPD blotter from Dec. 10 through 19.

A fugitive was arrested in Gilroy late Wednesday night after he escaped from his jail cell at the Merced County Jail, according to a press release from the Gilroy Police Department.

A registered sex offender was arrested Dec. 13 in Gilroy for illegally making contact with a minor during a compliance sweep conducted by a multi-jurisdictional task force, according to a press release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

An 8,500-gallon gasoline tanker spilled thousands of gallons of fuel after colliding with a speeding motorist along Highway 101 south of Tennant Avenue early Thursday morning.

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies will be conducting a DUI warrant sweep in an effort to hold accountable those impaired driving suspects who have failed to show up to previous scheduled court dates, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies will be fanning out into neighborhoods throughout the County in the coming days “in search of high-risk DUI offenders,” the press release says. The deputies will be serving warrants and arresting those who either failed to show up for a court date or violated the terms of their probation on an outstanding DUI violation.“The best bet for anyone with a missed DUI court date is to go to court on their own now,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Rick Turini. “If you don’t, that warrant isn’t going away. We’re going to come find you and take you to jail.” DUI suspects apprehended by warrant sweep often face additional jail time for failing to appear in court or for violating probation, authorities said. Special DUI warrant service operations along with regularly scheduled “high visibility” DUI enforcement has a deterrent effect on those who disregard driving safety and abuse alcohol and drugs, police said. Funding for this operation is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The countywide winter holiday anti-DUI crackdown so far has netted 85 arrests of motorists on suspicion of impaired driving, according to a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s spokesman. The arrests were made by officers from 13 law enforcement agencies throughout the county from Dec. 13 until midnight Sunday, Dec. 15, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup. Last year, officers arrested 104 DUI suspects during the same three-day time period, Stenderup said. The arrests were the result of DUI checkpoints and extra officers on patrol for the annual “Avoid the 13” DUI crackdown, police said. The winter holiday crackdown period will continue through Jan. 1, 2014, and will include a DUI checkpoint Friday at an undisclosed location within the City limits, according to police. Funding for the Avoid the 13 program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

At approximately 1:42 p.m. Friday, the California Highway Patrol responded to a motorcycle accident on U.S. 101 at the Masten Avenue exit in Gilroy. Based on the CHP's incident report, a helicopter is en route to provide aid to the “severely injured” driver.