According to San Benito Jail Commander Lt. Edward Escamilla,
Gerardo Ceballos was transferred to this county due to concerns for
his safety in the Santa Clara County facility. The suspected crimes
were reported in Gilroy.
HOLLISTER
A 24-year-old Gilroy resident was booked into solitary protective lockdown at the San Benito County Jail on Tuesday after a transfer from Santa Clara County, where he had been arrested in July on suspicion of two counts of rape by force – along with counts of assault with intent to rape, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse and committing lewd acts with a 16-year-old.
According to San Benito Jail Commander Lt. Edward Escamilla, Gerardo Ceballos was transferred to this county due to concerns for his safety in the Santa Clara County facility. The suspected crimes were reported in Gilroy.
“The victims are related to someone in law enforcement in Santa Clara County,” Escamilla said.
Escamilla did not know the department for which the relative worked – nor the reasons why concerns arose after he spent nearly two months in the Santa Clara County Jail. Other law enforcement officials declined to discuss details related to the transfer.
Ceballos was arrested twice in Gilroy. Police report the first arrest occurred June 21 after investigators suspected that a victim was assaulted and molested by Ceballos after the victim voluntarily visited him in his car in the early morning hours. The suspect’s car also was recovered for evidence.
The second arrest occurred July 22. According to police reports, in that incident he’s suspected of arguing with a woman in Monterey. Police allege that when she attempted to flee, he chased the car down, entered it and forced her to drive to Gilroy – physically and sexually assaulting her on the way, according to the reports. At the 8000 block of Church Street, police allege he forced her into the house, where he raped her and would not let her leave.
Police said the woman escaped the house the next morning and reported the incidents. Officers then went to the residence and arrested Ceballos.
Charges for that arrest included rape, kidnapping, forced oral copulation, false imprisonment and domestic violence, according to the Gilroy Police Department.
