Two Morgan Hill residents, two Gilroy residents and a woman
described as transient were arrested June 29 after a Morgan Hill
police officer spotted them allegedly trying to steel boxes of
items from a Goodwill Industries trailer and found evidence of
alleged identity theft in a vehicle.
Morgan Hill – Two Morgan Hill residents, two Gilroy residents and a woman described as transient were arrested June 29 after a Morgan Hill police officer spotted them allegedly trying to steel boxes of items from a Goodwill Industries trailer and found evidence of alleged identity theft in a vehicle.
The victims of the identity theft are Gilroy residents.
Maria Spicer, 50, of Morgan Hill; Wendy Gomez, 33, of Morgan Hill; Frank Ramirez, 28, of Gilroy; Oscar Flores, 34, of Gilroy; and Marian Duarte, 32, a transient, were arrested last Friday evening and all except Spicer, who was cited and released, were booked into Santa Clara County Jail.
Spicer was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance and alleged possession of stolen property. Gomez was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance and alleged possession of stolen property. Ramirez was arrested for violation of probation and alleged possession of stolen property. Flores was arrested for violation of probation and alleged destruction of evidence, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of stolen property. Duarte was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance, violation of probation and alleged possession of stolen property.
According to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing, police received a call early in the evening about suspicious behavior near the Goodwill Industries collection trailer in the Safeway grocery store parking lot on East Dunne Avenue. But when Officer Kyle Christensen responded, there was no one in the area.
Later, at approximately 9:45pm, Christensen went back to the parking lot, and this time found three vehicles parked in front of the trailer with people picking up boxes and loading them into the vehicles. One of the five suspects, Flores, was chewing on a baggie when Christensen arrived, and when asked what he was chewing on, Flores told Christensen it was drugs, Swing said. The baggie contained marijuana, and Flores was allegedly trying to eat it to hide it.
Because several of the suspects were on probation, Christensen searched the vehicles. He found a driver’s license that had been stolen from Gilroy, a mirror with what appeared to be remnants of methamphetamine on it, a canvas bag and a document folder, Swing said.
Inside the folder, there were other stolen driver’s licenses, stolen debit and credit cards and stolen mail, including addresses and Social Security numbers, credit card statements and Internal Revenue Service documents.
Swing said there were at least eight victims from Gilroy.
A 1-year-old child, Flores’ son, was found in one of the vehicles, Swing said, and Child Protective Services picked up the boy at the scene.
