Crime & Safety

Police Arrest Los Gatos Man For Alleged Teen Assault

Thad Ryan Richey was taken into custody Oct. 10 and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, making terrorist threats and child abuse.

have arrested a 31-year-old man they believe assaulted a local teenager so bad that he landed in the hospital.

The incident is said to have occurred the evening of Oct. 7, at about 8 p.m., when the youth, accompanied by other teenagers, accidentally knocked on a residence on Oak Hill Way near Jackson Street and the man, identified as Thad Ryan Richey, answered the door with a pistol and proceeded to strike the youth on the back of the head with it.

The injury was serious enough that authorities transported the youth to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center for treatment, according to Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Sgt. Kerry Harris. The boy is said to have suffered a contusion and a laceration to the back of his head.

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Two days after the alleged attack, however, officers apprehended Richey the morning of Oct. 10 after doing surveillance work at several places he frequented. He was taken into custody without incident at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, Harris said.

Police say the night of the alleged assault, they received a report that a man was running near a group of teenagers, up Jackson Street from Oak Hill Way and had a pistol in his hand.

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They then got another call, this one believed to be from the injured youth, who said the man, described as Caucasian, was chasing him with a gun.

Police arrived on the scene and found the teenagers, all boys, and one reported that the man had struck him in the head with a pistol, Harris said.

The teens indicated that they had gone to the home and knocked on the door mistakenly, believing it was the home of a friend. When the suspect came out, he was carrying a pistol, with which he struck the youth on the head and subsequently chased them, Harris indicated.

The area was searched, but the man was not located.

One of the teens identified the residence from which the suspect had come out of, and police attempted to make contact with him there.

The suspect had left the residence prior to the arrival of police, but officers identified him as Richey, a resident at the address. 

Detectives were called out that evening to assist patrol personnel in continuing the investigation, and in locating Richey. 

That investigation proceeded through the weekend, which included surveillances of various locations where Richey was known to frequent, and the obtaining of a search warrant for Richey and his residence.

The morning of Oct. 10, surveillance units observed Richey enter a vehicle from a residence in Morgan Hill with a female and a small child. They were followed to Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, where the Richey was contacted and taken into custody without incident, Harris said.

The search warrant was executed at Richey’s residence on Oak Hill Way and two firearms were recovered as evidence.

Richey declined to speak to police, and was booked at Santa Clara County Jail, charged with assault with a deadly weapon, making terrorist threats and child abuse.

Anyone with information about Richey or the investigation may contact Los Gatos Monte Sereno Detective Corporal Mike Melton at 408-827-3235.


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