A 45-year-old man accused of menacing Los Gatos Dog & Cat Hospital employees and threatening to commit a school shooting must face a single criminal count—plus an enhancement—Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Leila Sayar ruled on April 19.
At the conclusion of Jose Mercado’s preliminary hearing, she said there’s enough evidence to suggest he engaged in making terrorist threats and must stand trial.
“It does appear (Count 1) has been committed,” she said. “The defendant is held to answer.”
The Frandle family, who run the animal hospital, say they’ve been living in fear since Mercado, whom they’d befriended (even letting him live with them rent-free for years), began sending frightening text messages targeting them and leaving “horrific” voicemails at the business.
In a letter submitted to the court earlier this year, Kyle Frandle said the “sustained fear” and “terror” caused by Mercado had made it hard to sleep at night.
“From December 6, 2022 to April 15. 2023, Mr. Mercado left over 30 threatening and harassing voicemails at my business Los Gatos Dog and Cat Hospital,” he wrote. “His threats detailed his plans to kill, bomb and dismember my wife and I, as well the doctors and staff of the hospital, and the animals in our care.”
On April 26, 2023, Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell and Assistant District Attorney Stephen Drottar filed an official Complaint against Mercado.
“On or about February 10, 2023… JOSE MERCADO did willfully and unlawfully threaten to commit a crime which would result in death and great bodily injury to Brandt, Kyle and Kathy Jo Frandle, with the specific intent that the statement be taken as a threat,” it states. “It…was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey to Brandt, Kyle and Kathy Jo Frandle a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution.”
‘Threats to schools are not something to dismiss’
—Kathy Jo Frandle, in a letter to the court
During cross-examination on Friday, Hannah Taylor—Mercado’s public defender—sought to poke holes in testimony from Santa Cruz Police Department officer Alejandro Perez.
She pressed Perez on Mercado’s claims that he has ties to an armed group in El Salvador and to “cursed” animals around the world.
Perez confirmed that, while he understood Mercado had been living in El Salvador, he didn’t have any proof of a link with a military or paramilitary group there.
In her letter to the court, Kathy Frandle said a woman they both know showed her text messages Mercado had sent containing death threats towards her family, including a picture of a rifle and ammunition.
And as a retired elementary school principal, she said a voicemail he left at their Los Gatos business mentioning “bombs and bullets in schools,” was particularly concerning.
“Threats to schools are not something to dismiss or take lightly, and I hope the court will do everything in its power to hold Mr. Mercado accountable,” she wrote.
Mercado left the country after being hit with a restraining order that was supposed to strip him of firearms—but before he submitted proof he’d relinquished any guns or ammunition.
He was arrested at the Oakland airport upon returning to the United States and bond was set at $25,000 on May 2, 2023.
On Feb. 14, he pleaded not guilty to communicating terrorist threats and denied the felony enhancement.
Mercado, while not in custody, is required to wear a GPS tracker
During the preliminary hearing Friday, Mercado sat quietly to the right of his public defender in a black button up shirt with dark hair shaved short. He wore a blue surgical mask and followed the proceedings with the assistance of Spanish language interpreter Magda Lucia Florez.
Taylor said the content of the messages her client sent were “so divorced from reality” that they should be seen as “rantings—that’s what they are.”
Plus, she said, some of the communication in question wasn’t sent directly, but rather communicated by a third party.
“He did not contact the Frandles,” she said. “He made no efforts to that fact.”
In her closing remarks, Assistant District Attorney Pamela Dunlap disagreed.
“He threatened them,” she said, arguing that the indirect messages were clearly meant to be passed on. “She tells them exactly what (Mercado) said.”
Sayar set the next court date for May 3, but suggested there may be mental health issues to consider.
Mercado is currently out on supervised release, with a GPS tracker, under conditions including taking medication, complying with search terms, and not possessing firearms, ammunition, or any other weapons, such as bombs or knives.
