An alert parent walking his kids to school around 8am Thursday detained a man outside Los Gatos’ Louise Van Meter Elementary School after he spotted the individual following girls with a smartphone in his hand. By 8:15am, 63-year-old Los Gatos resident John Alan Hale was in handcuffs along Los Gatos Boulevard.
The parent, who identified himself as Khalid, said Hale was walking behind students with a device obscured by a wallet, and was holding it below their skirts. Khalid said that when he spoke to the man—whom police later identified as Hale—he took off running.
Khalid was able to hold the suspect until police arrived. He said Hale punched and bit him. Khalid was bleeding from his leg and hand as he stood outside the Old Adobe Hair Shop, a short distance from the handcuffed suspect, who asked for an attorney.
Khalid added that the device appeared to be still in recording mode when it was placed on the seat of a police vehicle.
The Los Gatan contacted the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department to ask about the incident and was directed to send an email to pi*@********ca.gov. The department later posted the suspect’s identity to Facebook and Instagram, large, privately-run social media services based in Menlo Park that are sometimes used by government agencies to disseminate official information.
Hale “was taken into custody on charges related to annoying and harassing minors and battery,” according to the social media update.
“In addition, the investigation revealed that Hale had attempted to temporarily restrain a juvenile in the course of his actions and therefore he is being charged with attempted kidnapping,” reads the text, which was also sent to the Los Gatan by email.
As of 10:15am, the incident was not listed on the Media Bulletins section of the LGMSPD transparency portal, and police dispatchers could not confirm if the 8am call that involved multiple police units related to an upskirt-photo-or-videos investigation.
A spokesperson for the Los Gatos Union School District declined to go into detail before notifying parents and staff members about the case.
“Our focus is taking care of our school community,” said Karen Briones, the communications official. “We are working closely with the police department on this.”
“Should you have additional information related to this incident or the suspect involved, please contact Detective Heather Murphy at the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department at 408-824-3228,” LGMSPD posted.
*With files from Drew Penner
