San Jose man charged with burglarizing churches and temples, stealing donations

For release on March 7, 2024

CONTACT:
Hannah Bertrando  
Deputy District Attorney
Major Crime & Drug Trafficking
(408) 792-2853
 

San Jose man charged with burglarizing churches and temples, stealing donations

A San Jose man has been charged with a series of burglaries at churches and temples throughout the South Bay, stealing tens of thousands in donations.

Jaime Gutierrez Flores, 33, was arrested at a San Jose church this past weekend. Now he stands charged with at least seven other burglaries, during which he stole collection money. Flores was also charged with assault on a police officer for steering a stolen car at a Sunnyvale officer who was trying to arrest him after burglarizing a Hindu temple. The suspect and other men burglarized the same temple three different times in less than a month.

Investigators continue to look for other suspects who may have been involved in the series of break-ins, as well as other break-in burglaries.

Flores was arraigned yesterday in the Hall of Justice in San Jose. He was held on $1 million bail. His next court date is March 22.  He faces prison time if convicted.

“Our schools, our homes, our places of worship, are special and sacred places and when they are invaded by criminals it feels as though our whole community has been violated,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Our Office will hold this criminal, and anyone who acted with him, fully responsible to the law.”

Some of the crimes, which ranged from December of last year to last month, include:

• At 2:25 a.m., on Dec. 4, the suspect broke into a Santa Clara church with another man, stealing $1805 worth of property, including $1,640 in cash donations.
• After midnight on Dec. 5, Flores and two other suspects forced entry into the front glass door of a temple in Milpitas, stole a donation box, damaged a second donation box, and took a total of approximately $6,000 in cash.
• The next evening, Flores and another suspect pried their way into a temple in Sunnyvale and stole donation boxes with about $15,000 in donations inside. The next evening, the suspects took $25,000 more from the same temple. A few weeks later they struck the same temple and almost hit an officer as they escaped in a car, with $6,000 more in donations taken.
• Flores also burglarized a church in San Jose and several other businesses in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and San Jose.

Investigators found searches for temples on the suspect’s phone.