ESTABLISHED 1868
A New SV Media publication
Friday, December 8, 2017
gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 150, No. 49 • $1
BUSINESS: New St. Louise chief wants to keep small hospital cutting edge P11
Five locals arrested in alleged car insurance scam
Big parade will cheer two CCS victories on Dec. 17
STAGED CRASHES REPORTEDLY NETTED MORE THAN $200K
GILROY AND CHRISTOPHER ARE WINNERS OF THEIR CCS TITLES
➝ Two Champs, 8 THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
DECEMBER 8, 2017
OU T & AB OU T CA LE NDAR OF EV EN TS
A section of the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
Ron Erskine takes readers to Lassen National Park
Seriously Sierras
The new design has more content, easier navigation and more interactive features, said Dan Pulcrano, publisher of the Gilroy Dispatch. The photos are brighter and bigger, and the typography is easier to read.
Five South Valley men, including two from Gilroy and two from San Martin, were charged with running a $235,948 insurance scam where they faked 18 car accidents and billed insurance companies for work that was never done. Brothers Angel Topete, 36, and Joshua Topete, 34, both of San Martin, Eric Harrison, 33, and Gregory Carl Harrison, 53, both of Gilroy, as well as Hugo Lua, 39, of Hollister, were also arrested in connection with the auto insurance scam, which involved 22 people, 18 of whom have been arrested. They will appear in Morgan Hill’s Superior Court this week. Most were friends or family members and at least one is charged in a previous fraud ring. Investigators were tipped off to the ring by an insurance investigator with Farmer’s Insurance, who noticed some of the same vehicles were involved in accidents repeatedly. As part of the scam, members of the ring would buy cheap cars that had been salvaged and damage them. Many times they bought insurance policies weeks before they reported the accidents, according to Deputy District Attorney Charlotte Chang, who has been prosecuting insurance fraud for the county for a decade. They would then fix the cars cheaply at body shops involved in the ring, or not fix them at all and just collect the money, she said. The highest amount paid for a car’s fake damage was $37,723 and the cars included BMWs and Cadillacs. The group had made 18 claims on fake collisions between 2012 and 2015. The Farmer’s investigator noticed that the father of one of the claimants filed the exact same claim on the same car at the
➝ New Website, 8
➝ Auto Fraud, 12
CLAUS CALL Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped traffic downtown Saturday as they rode
a sleigh across Monterey Street to light the Holiday tree.
Joy to the city Gilroy’s holiday parade brought tens of thousands of people downtown Saturday not only for marching bands, dancing horses and Boy and Girl scout troops, but for shopping and food along Fifth Street, a best-dressed dog contest and a tree lighting ceremony. Fair weather brought out families and loads of children.
Brad Kava
Inside this issue: Ron Erskine is getting everyone out
WASHINGTON HAWTHORN P8 | BENITO BENE P14 | SEASONAL NOSTALGIA P16
Scott Forstner and Brad Kava
Brad Kava
Not one, but two CCS football trophies in the same year will be celebrated by Gilroyans with a big parade next weekend. Parents and coaches of Gilroy and Christopher football players were still putting the details together this week, but they urged fans to mark the date and the time, Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1pm, for a big community celebration of the twin victories last weekend: Christopher won the Division IV Central Coast Section title, and Gilroy won the Division V title, capping an unbeaten season. Mayor Roland Velasco said he’s attending and urged everyone to join him. “This is huge because Gilroy (GHS and CHS) has never won a championship,” he wrote on his Facebook page this week. “Now we have two teams that won!”
SWEET MUSIC Gilroy’s Mariachi Estelar group gave a novel touch to a parade. No trombones or bass drums, but a symphonic sound.
GilroyDispatch.com relaunches NEW TECHNOLOGY OFFERS CLEANER DESIGN, MORE INTERACTION, BRIGHTER PHOTOS The Gilroy Dispatch launched a full revamp of gilroydispatch.com 6
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this week that adapts to any size display—from widescreen desktops, to laptops, tablets and all smartphone sizes—and enables easier and better interaction. The new site contains all the local news, features and sports of Gilroy’s only weekly newspaper, founded in 1868, plus some bonus features. The web address is the same.
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