It is believed that on January 31, 2014, the three suspects tried to flag down a resident near his home in order to hijack their vehicle and rob them. Witnesses say they saw several cars out in the street that were screeching as if someone had a car wreck out in the street. There were two vehicles abandoned out in the street – a large black SUV and a silver car a Honda Civic Coup abandoned out in the street. A third car — a gold Cadillac — had been at the scene and had front end damage that had lost an emblem piece and several car parts near the scene of the accident. Police were able to identify the car and discovered the owner of the vehicle was Orlando Heredia.
One witness who lived near the scene said it was dark, but he was able to see several young male suspects exiting several cars and abandoning them in the street. This is when his neighbor started to arrive home. The victim saw two males standing out in the roadway. He became increasingly nervous as one of the suspects approached the driver side of his vehicle. Not knowing the suspect, and seeing two vehicles abandoned in the roadway near his home, he increased his speed and exiting the area quickly. He reached a friend’s home safely and called police.
In February of this year, a photo lineup of the suspects was shown to the victim, allowing him to positively identify the suspect as Joel Sanchez being the one of the suspects he had seen out in the street. However, the victim was able to identify Gabriel Flores as the person who approached him.
All three suspects were taken into custody and booked into Santa Clara Main Jail. They are expected to appear on April 17,201 at 9:00 AM in Dept. 34. According to the DA’s Office, the trio now faces gang enhancement charges under PC 186.22, “any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity”. Additional charges have been filed under PC 667(b)-1/117012, and PC 667 (a), which imposes an additional five-year enhancement for each such prior conviction.