An alert parent walking his kids to school around 8am on Aug. 28 detained a man outside Los Gatos’ Louise Van Meter Elementary School after he spotted him 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.
I happened to pass the cluster of police cars and saw two scraped and bloodied men—one, a girl dad who had apprehended a man he believed was engaging in inappropriate conduct, and the other a Los Gatos homeowner with grown kids who’d shown up outside a school shortly before classes began.
The parent, who identified himself as Khalid, said Hale was walking behind students and was holding a device obscured by a wallet below their skirts. Khalid said that when he spoke to the man—whom police later identified as Hale—the suspect took off running.
Khalid was able to grab and 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 man, who asked for an attorney.
Khalid added that the smartphone appeared to be still in recording mode when it was placed on the seat of a police vehicle.
Hale was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail, and bail was set at $200,000. According to jail records, he was released before the three-day holiday weekend was over. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office confirmed that Hale posted bail and was released, but that the case has been assigned to a senior investigator in the sexual assault unit and is “under investigation.”
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,” LGMSPD said.
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.
