GILROY
– In the latest of a trend of crimes targeting the elderly, a
local man reportedly lost between $21,500 and $26,000 of his life’s
savings to a pair of robbers who kidnapped him last Tuesday.
GILROY – In the latest of a trend of crimes targeting the elderly, a local man reportedly lost between $21,500 and $26,000 of his life’s savings to a pair of robbers who kidnapped him last Tuesday.
According to police, the robbers lured 81-year-old Alfonso Cordova, of Gilroy, into their van, brandished a gun and over the next six hours forced him to withdraw money from banks.
Cordova was inside Wal-Mart in Gilroy at about 12:30 p.m. when one of the perpetrators approached him in an amiable manner. The younger man said he wanted to show Cordova something and persuaded him to come outside to the parking lot. There they met another man. Together, the men encouraged Cordova to get into their van, a recent-model, silver, full-sized Dodge.
“They just kept on him until he finally got in the car with them,” said Officer Taryn Hathaway. “During the drive down Leavesley Road, one of the guys showed him a gun – showed it to him, he didn’t point it at him – and told him not to fool around.”
The suspects drove to the Bank of America on Monterey Street, near First Street, and told Cordova to take out money. Cordova got a cash advance with his credit card and handed it over.
“That wasn’t enough money (for the robbers),” Hathaway said, so they drove to the Washington Mutual branch in Morgan Hill. There, Cordova told police, the man with the gun came inside the bank with him. Cordova withdrew $5,000 and gave it to his captors.
“That wasn’t enough, either,” Hathaway said, so the perpetrators drove Cordova to two more Washington Mutual branches, in San Jose and Santa Clara. Cordova withdrew $8,000 from each.
This was Cordova’s life savings.
The two men abandoned Cordova in San Jose at about 6:30 p.m. He took a bus home and called police at 8:58 that night. He was uninjured.
Cordova described both of them as being about 35 years old, Hispanic, with brown eyes and hair. One is about 6 feet tall with medium build; the other is about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a heavy-to-medium build.
Police have no suspects at this time, but Hathaway said she hopes to gain a better description of at least one suspect from the Morgan Hill bank’s videotape. Both perpetrators face felony robbery and kidnapping charges.
