By Jason Green,
jason.green@mercurynews.com
SAN JOSE -- A veteran police
officer has been charged with running a chop shop and possessing stolen car
parts worth more than $75,000, according to the Santa Clara County District
Attorney's Office.
Tyson Green, 41, a Los Gatos
resident and 14-year veteran of the Santa Clara Police Department, was arrested
Friday.
Green is charged with one count
of owning or operating a chop shop and two counts of buying or receiving stolen
property in excess of $950, said deputy district attorney Michael Vidmar.
If convicted, Green faces a
maximum of five years in prison, according to prosecutors.
"Auto thefts are plaguing
our area, directly affecting the owners and indirectly affecting insurance
rates for everyone in the state," Vidmar said in a statement. "It is
deeply disappointing that a member of law enforcement chose to participate in
this crime."
The alleged crime was exposed
when a local man tried to buy a Chevrolet Camaro engine from a seller on
Craigslist. He suspected the engines were stolen and called police, according
to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said an investigation
by the Santa Clara County Regional Auto Theft Task Force revealed Green was
using a San Jose garage to store four engines, each worth more than $15,000, as
well as a dozen car computers. The parts came from cars that had been stolen
over the past two years in the greater Bay Area, according to prosecutors.
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The engines were from modern
Camaros, including the high-performance ZL1, said Vidmar, adding that the
vehicle identification numbers on them had been partially destroyed.
Green is the third Santa Clara
cop to find himself in legal trouble in the past year. His arrest comes while a
jury is deliberating whether to convict Sgt. Thomas Leipelt of one misdemeanor
count of indecent exposure. And Kiet Nguyen, a 25-year veteran, was charged
with shoplifting after he allegedly took a smart watch from a Target store in
May.
Green was put on paid
administrative leave when the police department learned he was under criminal
investigation, Santa Clara police Chief Michael Sellers said in a statement.
"I was sad to learn that one
of my officers, Tyson Green, a 14-year veteran, was arrested," Sellers
said. "This is not a true reflection of the hardworking men and women of
this department that serve and protect our community."
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