Police arrested two men Thursday after they allegedly committed
lewd acts with a 13-year-old girl in an east Gilroy warehouse May
4.
Police arrested two men Thursday after they allegedly committed lewd acts with a 13-year-old girl in an east Gilroy warehouse May 4.
Jesus Hernandez, 41, a local transient, and Gilroy resident Martin Lopez Gonzalez, 43, of the 100 block of Third Street, both were arrested on charges of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. Hernandez also was arrested on a charge of sexual penetration of a child under age 14 with a foreign object.
The incident, which occurred at an abandoned warehouse at Ninth and Alexander streets, took place less than six months after police arrested two homeless men allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl in Christmas Hill Park. Although the details of the case were very similar, police would not confirm whether the same girl was the victim in both of those crimes. Yet, Sgt. Jim Gillio said this did not represent a trend of random sexual assaults on teenagers.
“It’s not like this is a public safety issue,” Sgt. Jim Gillio said.
The girl met with about a eight to 10 men, most of whom were transients, at an abandoned warehouse at Alexander and Ninth streets at about 7 p.m. May 4, Gillio said. At the time, she drank alcohol with them, smoked marijuana and ingested a “white powdery substance,” he said.
The sexual assault took place sometime after that time and before 6 a.m. the next day, when a counselor reported the incident to police, he said.
There is no indication that anyone other than the suspects were in the warehouse at the time of the assault, Gillio said.
Police arrested both men at a warehouse at 199 E. Ninth St. at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.
There was evidence at the scene of the incident that indicated that sexual activity had occurred, Gillio said, although he would not discuss the evidence.
At the time of the arrest, Gonzalez had outside warrants for driving under the influence of alcohol, battery on a peace officer or emergency personnel, giving a false report to a police officer, and making an illegal turn at an intersection. However, Gillio said neither Gonzalez nor Hernandez had been previously arrested in Gilroy.
Both men are scheduled to be arraigned in the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill this afternoon. They are being held without bail in the Santa Clara County Jail.
The incident occurred just months after Gilroy transients Cresencio Evarado Blas, 29, and Benancio Quinones, 49, allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl in Christmas Hill Park in west Gilroy on Nov. 18.
In that instance, the suspects “befriended” the girl near the red barn at the park, and then the victim followed the men to their encampment on the ranch side of the park between the levee and Uvas Creek, according to court documents. After that, she smoked marijuana, snorted cocaine and drank part of a can of beer with the two men before they allegedly raped her, police said.
In that instance the girl left, then came back and was raped again, police said.
Blas and Quinones face five counts of child rape as well as charges of furnishing marijuana and a controlled substance to a minor.
They are scheduled to appear in court for a plea hearing May 21 at the South County Courthouse.
