News

Hollister council members Monday continued a pursuit of becoming Charter free when it comes to accessing expensive fiber lines.

John Loyd, a Hollister resident and fifth-grade teacher at Paradise Valley Elementary School in Morgan Hill, agreed to serve up to 40 years in state prison after admitting to inappropriate contact with four young female students at the Morgan Hill courthouse Monday.

Loyd pleaded guilty to four counts of lewd and lascivious acts toward a child. He has agreed to a prison sentence of 40 years, instead of choosing to go forward with a trial and facing the maximum possibility of a life term that the charges would allow, attorneys at the hearing said.

Loyd, 53, will be sentenced at the Morgan Hill courthouse Sept. 21.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerny said the negotiated sentence is “fair, it protects the community and it accurately reflects his conduct.”

Loyd was a teacher at the LaCrosse Drive school in southwest Morgan Hill at the time of his arrest October 2014, shortly after the first victim—one of his students—reported to her parents and police that he made inappropriate contact with her in the classroom.

After his arrest, more victims came forward and alerted authorities to similar contact Loyd had made with them. McInerny said all four victims listed in the charges to which Loyd pleaded guilty were “approximately fifth grade age,” or about 10 to 12, when the inappropriate contact occurred.

The incidents took place on four separate occasions from late 2012 to October 2014, according to court documents.

“The victims’ families are relieved” at Loyd’s plea and sentence, McInerney added. A trial, he said, would have likely required the victims to testify, adding further trauma to the abuse they have already suffered.

Loyd’s case is subject to the state’s “sexually violent predator” laws, which require suspects deemed dangerous enough to serve at least 85 percent of their court-mandated sentences, McInerny explained. That means Loyd will be about 87 years old before he is eligible for release, and the court will then determine if he remains a danger to society.

“We believe, at that time, he will no longer be a threat to children,” McInerny said.

Loyd’s attorney, Lawrence Biegel, said that Loyd agreed to the 40-year sentence in order to “take responsibility” for his crimes, and to avoid the certainty of spending the rest of his life in prison.

“Contrary to a lot of people, Mr. Loyd has taken responsibility for what he has done,” said Biegel, who anticipates Loyd will make a statement at the sentencing hearing. “He wants the victims to understand they did nothing wrong at all.”

Biegel added during the Aug. 3 hearing that the Sept. 21 proceeding will be an “opportunity to make amends” with the victims and their families.

Loyd has taught fifth grade at Paradise Valley Elementary—where he was also an advisor for the student newspaper program—since 2008, according to authorities. He has taught in the Morgan Hill Unified School District since 2000, and previously taught at Nordstrom Elementary before being transferred to Paradise Valley.

He has been in custody at Santa Clara County Jail and on administrative leave from MHUSD since his October arrest, according to authorities.

A Chevy Impala traveling on Bloomfield Avenue pulled in front of a GMC Sierra pick-up truck Thursday afternoon resulting in a collision that led to a Calstar life flight, explained a California Highway Patrol officer.

The Hollister School District will be hosting grief support counseling this week at Marguerite Maze Middle School, where Joshua Rodriguez, 11, should have been a seventh grade student next month. 

More than 400 homes had been reported for water violations that include running the precious resource off lawns and on to sidewalks and roads. But four months after Gov. Jerry Brown called for a 25 percent reduction in water use from 2013 levels, no fines for water violations have been issued in Hollister.

San Benito Street in downtown Hollister will be closed part of Tuesday for National Night Out.

Over the years, Hollister resident Bob Martin Del Campo has had the chance to wear a few uniforms: the dress blues and camouflages of the Marines, the camouflage of the Army Reserve, and the purple and orange of FedEx.

The Hollister School District’s superintendent underscored helmet safety following Monday’s fatal accident near Sunnyslope Elementary School and the local skate park.

Interim Hollister Fire Department Chief Bill Garringer said he did not see a helmet at the scene of Monday's fatality on Memorial Drive.

The night before 11-year-old Joshua Rodriguez died in Monday’s accident—when a bus struck his bicycle on Memorial Drive—he had stayed over at the home of best friend Cody Cordova.