4 suspects arrested in San Jose carjacking, assault

By Carlos E. Castañeda

Four people were arrested following a violent carjacking in San Jose last week after investigators used automated license plate readers to find the stolen vehicle and the suspects’ vehicle, police said.

The incident happened on Sept. 18 at about 11:16 a.m. in the area of Las Plumas Avenue and Marburg Way, next to U.S. Highway 101 and west of King Road. The San Jose Police Department said in a press release that four men exited a vehicle, one of them who was armed with a gun, and approached the victim, demanding he hand over his car key.

The four men then assaulted the victim and forcibly took his key, fleeing in his vehicle and in the vehicle they arrived in, police said.

Responding officers began an investigation with help from the department’s intelligence unit using a network of public and private surveillance cameras, police said, along with automated license plate readers, police said. The unit’s analysts located the suspects and the vehicles and began tracking them, allowing patrol officers to conduct an enforcement stop on both of them in San Jose.

The four suspects were identified as San Jose residents Hugo Velazquez-Pena, 32; Omar Macedo-Topete, 20; Jonathan De La Cruz, 33;  and Victor De La Cruz, 37.

Police said the four were arrested and booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail for various crimes, including carjacking and assault.