R.O. Hardin Elementary School was placed on lockdown late Tuesday morning while a wanted subject led, and ultimately evaded, sheriff's deputies on a foot chase, Lt. Roy Iler of the San Benito County Sheriff's Office said today.
Deputies quickly set up a perimeter after a suspect ran from an investigative unit following up on a report of credit card fraud.
Police searched Micah Court where the suspect had been contacted and the neighborhood surrounding R.O. Hardin, but were unsuccessful in locating the man, Iler said.
"Either he made it through the perimeter somehow, or he hunkered down and hid," he said.
Investigators was following up on information they had received from the owner of some missing credit cards.
When a Hollister resident noticed her cards missing, she contacted the sheriff's office and said she had a good idea who had taken them, the office spokesman said.
Law enforcement monitored the activity of the credit accounts and noticed use at Home Depot in Gilroy. Deputies obtained surveillance video from the store that showed a man who was known to investigators from previous incidents, but was not the man named by the cards' owner, Iler said. They observed the man making a large purchase of tools and equipment. Deputies then located the suspect in Hollister seen in the video.
That man has not been charged by the San Benito County District Attorney's office and he remains in custody. During questioning, he gave the officers the name of a person he claimed had given him the stolen cards and who had driven with him to Home Depot. That name matched the one given by the owner of the credit cards, Iler said.
When police went to the suspect's residence, he managed to flee on foot, starting the incident.
The lockdown at R.O. Hardin was brief and had a minimal impact on the academic day.
The suspect remains at large as police continue their search of the area. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the sheriff's office at (831) 636-4080.
Jeff Gatlin Jeff Gatlin is a staff writer at The Hollister Free Lance. You can call him at (831) 637-5566 or send him an email.
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