A Hollister man could be sentenced to four years behind bars for
allegedly driving around the city with a homemade bomb.
On Friday, the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office
charged Jose Angel Garcia, 26, with one count of possession of a
bomb and one count of transportation of an explosive device,
according to court documents.
If Garcia is convicted of the charges against him, he could be
sentenced to a maximum of four years in state prison, according to
the state penal code.
A Hollister man could be sentenced to four years behind bars for allegedly driving around the city with a homemade bomb.
On Friday, the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office charged Jose Angel Garcia, 26, with one count of possession of a bomb and one count of transportation of an explosive device, according to court documents.
If Garcia is convicted of the charges against him, he could be sentenced to a maximum of four years in state prison, according to the state penal code.
Garcia was arrested Wednesday afternoon by the Hollister Police Department and members of the Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team on suspicion of stalking, vandalism, being under the influence of a controlled substance, transportation or trafficking of controlled substance and encouraging a minor to sell drugs, according to jail records.
Garcia is currently being held at the San Benito County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail and on a parole violation hold.
Garcia is scheduled to be back in court for continued arraignment at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Investigators with the Hollister Police Department had been searching for Garcia since his release from psychiatric watch following his threatened suicide on July 10 that led to a four-hour stand off on Suiter Street. Police were forced to use pepper spray on him, which forced Garcia to the window where police subdued him.
Nearly two weeks later, on July 24, police were called to the 1100 block of Central Ave. at 1:15 a.m. where Garcia was allegedly battering his girlfriend police said.
When officers arrived at the scene, Garcia had fled the area, but when officers searched his car they found a homemade bomb, described as two cylindrical objects taped together with a fuse coming out of the tips, police said.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad was called in to first identify the bomb and then remove it from the car. The unit later detonated the device in an open field next to Calaveras School, police said.
Garcia is also suspected of being the person who reportedly rammed a car into a house on the 1200 block of Tamara Court Tuesday morning.
At approximately 2:20 a.m., police were called to the home on Tamara court where a Mercury Tracer struck a support beam.
Investigators said the car was intentionally run into the home because someone had wedged a large brick on top of the gas pedal and put the, reportedly stolen car, into gear.
The investigation into that incident is still underway and could result in additional charges being filed against Garcia.
