Man lied about hate crime in Palo Alto, cops say

(KTVU) - Here's the Rap Sheet for Jan. 12, 2016:

NO HATE CRIME: A man who said he was the victim of a hate crime because of his race has been arrested for lying about the attack, Palo Alto police said today.

On July 15, Jesus Francisco Cabrera, 19, of East Palo Alto showed up at a hospital with a stab wound to his thigh that he said resulted from an attack by three white men who didn't like the fact that he was Latino, authorities said.

Cabrera said he was attacked with a screwdriver at a downtown Palo Alto parking garage.

Police produced a sketch of Cabrera's purported attackers and caused the city's Human Relations Commission to ask the department to make a presentation on hate crimes in Palo Alto.

But detectives uncovered inconsistencies in Cabrera's statements and ultimately concluded that he had been stabbed during a "mutual combat fight with known acquaintances that had occurred in East Palo Alto" that began after an argument over graffiti.

"No hate crime or stabbing occurred in downtown Palo Alto," police said.

Santa Clara County prosecutors have charged Cabrera with a misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime.

SECURITY GUARD HELD IN ATTACK: A security guard was arrested by Mountain View police on suspicion of sexual battery after he victimized a woman whose car had broken down, authorities said.

Luis Diaz, 31, of San Jose spotted the woman and a friend in a school parking lot on the 500 block of South Rengstoff Avenue, where they had parked after their car broke down on El Camino Real about 3:15 a.m. Saturday, police said.

Diaz, who had on his security-guard uniform and was driving a security-patrol car, offered to help, authorities said.

After a tow truck arrived, the woman got into Diaz's car while her friend rode with the tow-truck driver. During the ride to the woman's home, Diaz sexually battered her, police said.

The woman called police, and officers spotted a Bayside Security car with a light bar in the area and later saw the suspect walking through an apartment complex, authorities said.

The woman identified Diaz as her attacker, and he was taken into custody.

GENERATOR GRINCH: Petaluma police asked for the public's help in identifying a man who stole a gas-powered generator from Friedman's Home Improvement Center.

The man walked into the store at 429 North McDowell Boulevard shortly after noon Monday, loaded the generator into a shopping cart and left without paying for it, police said.

He then got into an early 2000s teal-colored minivan with no license plates. The rear window had white tape on the bottom right corner.

The thief is described as a Latino man in his 30s, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 200 pounds, with a dark mustache and beard. He was wearing a gray shirt, blue jeans, dark hat and tan work boots.

Anyone with information is asked to call Petaluma police Officer Patrick Gerke at (707) 778-4372.

CAR BURGLAR SOUGHT: San Jose police say an auto burglary was caught on surveillance video breaking into a utility box in a pickup truck.

The incident happened about 3:30 a.m. Nov. 1 on Copco Lane.

The man, accompanied by a second suspect not clearly captured on video, is seen getting out of a vehicle and using bolt cutters to cut off the box inside the truck, which is parked in the driveway of a home.

The burglar is described as a Latino man, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 140 pounds, with a goatee. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and a San Jose Sharks baseball cap.

You can see video of the incident here. 

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