Crime

The 45th out of 46 federally charged defendants in Operation Garlic Press – the 16-month, 39-agency undercover investigation led by Gilroy Police that spanned March 2010 to October 2011 – was sentenced Thursday in federal court, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.

The Gilroy Police Department responded to a variety of crimes this week including sexual assault, a hit and run, a discharged air gun and assault with a deadly weapon. Arrests are recorded from the GPD's blotter dating Nov. 11 through Nov. 18.

A Morgan Hill man driving a stolen vehicle tried to run from police and fought with an officer before he was arrested Thursday, according to a press release from the Morgan Hill Police Department.A Morgan Hill patrol officer located a stolen Honda driving north on Monterey Road Thursday morning, police said. The officer attempted to pull the vehicle over but the driver led police on a brief high-speed chase. The driver, later identified as James Nickell, 41 of Morgan Hill, lost control of the vehicle while attempting to make a sharp turn on Glen Ayre Drive, police said. The vehicle went up a dirt embankment and rolled back down. Nickell exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot, but he was tackled and fought with the officer, police said. Nickell was arrested and booked at Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of narcotics, assaulting an officer, failure to yield and committing a felony while out on bail, police said. Anyone with information about this incident can call Morgan Hill Police Department at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867. 

A 78-year-old woman died after she was hit by a vehicle while walking near a south Morgan Hill intersection Friday night, police said.

Burglary

Attorneys involved in the case of the man accused of murdering Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar continued to verbally spar over the sluggish evidence disclosure process at a hearing Friday, but the suspect again declined to enter a plea.Antolin Garcia Torres, 22 of Morgan Hill, appeared at the hearing at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. He was handcuffed and wearing County Jail inmate scrubs - a contrast to recent previous hearings where he wore a brown suit and tie. Garcia Torres is accused of kidnapping and murdering Sierra, who disappeared at the age 15 from her mother’s north Morgan Hill home March 16, 2012. Her remains have not been found, and investigators have not revealed any evidence indicating her whereabouts since finding her cell phone and a bag containing some of her clothes in the early days of the investigation. Previous recent hearings have centered around the unfinished process requiring investigators to share case files and evidence with the defendant. Authorities have said there are more than 10,000 pages’ worth of evidence in the kidnapping and murder case. Garcia Torres’ attorney Friday told Superior Court Judge Sharon Chatman that a spreadsheet listing items of evidence, provided by prosecutors and requested at Garcia Torres’ last hearing in October, was “inadequate.” The list only indicated evidence provided by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office so far, while Garcia Torres’ attorney Al Lopez was under the impression the spreadsheet would include a list of items that are “going to come our way.” Santa Clara County Deputy DA David Boyd was consequently perturbed that the defense waited until Thursday’s hearing to let him know their view on the completeness of the list of evidence. “It’s frustrating to hear these things for the first time,” said Boyd, who added that he did not indicate he would provide a more complete spreadsheet at the last hearing, as Lopez suggested. Chatman asked the prosecutor and defense attorneys to “informally” communicate their requests and complaints about the discovery or evidence sharing process to each other before court proceedings in order to speed up the process. The judge granted Garcia Torres’ request to schedule the next hearing for Jan. 9, 2014, for a status update. Boyd, noting it has been 17 months since Garcia Torres’ first court appearance following his arrest in May 2012, wanted the defendant to indicate at the next hearing when Garcia Torres will be ready for a “probable cause hearing.” Chatman asked Owens and Lopez to make such an indication at the Jan. 9 hearing. A small group of volunteers who continue to search for Sierra or her whereabouts attended Friday’s hearing. “We just wish they could speed it up more,” said volunteer Mike Nino of San Jose. “All we can do is be patient.” Nino and other volunteers meet every Saturday morning at the former site of Central High School to conduct searches. “As soon as we get more information we can find new areas to go (search),” Nino said. Sierra disappeared as she was walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues, according to authorities. She was a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time of her disappearance. Garcia Torres is also charged with a series of unrelated attempted carjacking and assaults in 2009, which occurred in the parking lots of two Safeway grocery stores in Morgan Hill.For more information on the search for Sierra, go to findsierralamar.com.

Former Gilroy Fire Division Chief Edward Bozzo and current Fire Division Chief Phillip King have filed an appeal to a U.S. Federal Court Judge's decision to toss out a controversial year-long lawsuit in which they claimed they were cheated out of a combined $30,000 in overtime pay.

The Gilroy Police Department responded to a variety of crimes this week including continuous sexual abuse of a minor child, possession of a controlled substance for sale, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and driving under the influence. Arrests were recorded in this week's GPD blotter from Nov. 4 through 11.

Vandals set fire to the playground slide at Paradise Valley Elementary School in the back side of campus around 6 p.m. Thursday, according to Principal Swati Dagar.