A year-long investigation by Hollister police into a Morgan Hill
man for passing counterfeit bills culminated Wednesday, when he was
arrested on 23 charges including felony counterfeiting, burglary
and possession of crystal methamphetamine for sale, according to
police.
Hollister – A year-long investigation by Hollister police into a Morgan Hill man for passing counterfeit bills culminated Wednesday, when he was arrested on 23 charges including felony counterfeiting, burglary and possession of crystal methamphetamine for sale, according to police.
Jason Lee Gallardo, 23, who has a permanent address in Morgan Hill and a Hollister addresses, was a suspect in a counterfeiting investigation after he was caught on video at Hollister’s Kmart in November of 2003 for buying merchandise with three fake $20 bills, according to Hollister police Detective Rudy Rodriguez. However, Rodriguez had to wait for over a year to receive fingerprints back from the state Department of Justice that linked Gallardo to the phony bills. After he received the hard evidence he needed to charge Gallardo, Rodriguez went looking for the suspect on Wednesday.
He found Gallardo near San Andreas School and pulled him over. After identifying himself as an officer, Rodriguez said he was waiting for back up to take the 23-year-old into custody.
“Then he turned around, looked at me and peeled out,” Rodriguez said. “There was about a three-block chase with him blowing stop signs, and then I finally pulled him over.”
After taking Gallardo into custody, police retraced the chase route and found that Gallardo had thrown more than 3.5 grams of crystal methamphetamine out the window.
“That’s why he was fleeing – so he could dump his dope,” Rodriguez said. “So we charged him with the charges with this case, and booked him on the prior case. Now he’s got a world of stuff on his plate.”
Along with five felony charges related to the drug possession and passing fake money, Gallardo was booked into the San Benito County Jail for an assortment of misdemeanor charges including reckless driving and 15 other misdemeanor counts for prior criminal violations, according to the jail. Gallardo refused to tell police where he received the fake bills from, Rodriguez said.
In all, Gallardo was booked with 23 charges and is in custody in lieu of almost $70,000 bail, according to jail personnel.
The arrest charges hadn’t made it to the district attorney’s desk for formal charging Thursday afternoon, and District Attorney John Sarsfield declined to speculate on how much prison time Gallardo could receive if convicted of the charges.
However, a felony burglary charge could land him in jail for up to three years, possession of drugs for sale carries a maximum five-year sentence and felony counterfeiting can be up to three years, Sarsfield said. That doesn’t take into account the slew of misdemeanor charges, such as driving on a suspended license and other traffic charges.
“It would depend on his criminal history, whether he’s still on probation – it’s too complicated,” Sarsfield said.
Gallardo had been a guest of the county jail four times before his current incarceration for various charges, including possession of marijuana and controlled substances.
Gallardo spent some time in jail in September, but because the DOJ moves at the speed of a glacier for returning fingerprint results, Rodriguez had to wait until now to arrest him, he said.
“The turn-around time is forever,” he said. “Sometime it takes a couple of years for results.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
