Sobrato principal, police Explorer scout help cops arrest man at
Parkway Lakes RV Park
Morgan Hill – A man impersonating a police officer was arrested after following three female students to the Sobrato High School’s parking lot and asking them to get out of their car, police said. The students were driving to the school’s Homecoming Dance Friday night when they were approached in the parking lot by William C. Taylor, 47, of Morgan Hill, said Morgan Hill police Sgt. David Swing.
Taylor, who had an outstanding Alameda County warrant, was arrested on suspicion of impersonating a peace officer and annoying or molesting a child younger than 18, said Swing.
The Sobrato students – a 17-year-old driver and her two passengers, 16 and 17 – were heading to the school’s homecoming dance about 10:30pm Monterey Road at Madrone Parkway. The students noticed that a white male adult driving a brown van followed them from that area until they pulled into the school’s parking lot.
Taylor followed the girls’ car into the parking lot and, though he did not get out of the van or make physical contact with the students, told them that he was an undercover police officer, Swing said. He accused the driver of running several red lights and asked her to get out of her vehicle.
Sobrato Principal Rich Knapp was in the parking lot at the time, and said he noticed the suspicious activity, so he confronted Taylor, who again identified himself as an undercover police officer.
“We were in the parking lot, trying to keep students from staying in the parking lot, and I saw the students get out of the car,” Knapp said. “We had several people in the parking lot that night, including my assistant principal and a security company we had hired. I have no idea why (Taylor) followed them here.”
When Knapp asked Taylor for identification, Swing said, Taylor said he did not have to show any ID and drove away. Knapp contacted police and gave a description of the van and its license plate number. He also told police Taylor was wearing a sweatshirt and baseball cap with some sort of law enforcement insignia.
During the encounter in the parking lot, a Sobrato student who is a Police Explorer Scout was watching and, when Taylor left, followed the van onto northbound Monterey Road. He called police on his cell phone and told them the van was at 200 Ogier Ave., in Parkway Lakes RV Park.Â
MHPD officers arrived and arrested Taylor on the outstanding warrant. Knapp and the three female students independently identified Taylor as the man in the van. He was booked into Santa Clara County Jail.
Swing said Taylor recently married an administrative employee of the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections; he was apparently wearing his wife’s hat and sweatshirt with the Department of Corrections logo on them.
During the encounter in the parking lot, another Sobrato student who is a Police Explorer Scout was watching and, when Taylor left, the student followed the van onto northbound Monterey Road. He called police on his cell phone and let them know the van stopped at 200 Ogier Ave., in Parkway Lakes RV Park.Â
Swing said detectives are investigating a possible connection between this case and a similar incident on Sept. 29. In that incident, he said, a 16-year-old girl reported two Hispanic male suspects in a maroon van approached her and told her to get into the van when she was on Peak Avenue near the Morgan Hill Library. The girl ran into the library, then she waited until the suspects left before she continued home.Â
“Our initial investigation indicates the cases are not related; however, we are going to speak with the other girl to make sure since the ages are similar,” Swing added.
