Arrest Made In Kidnapping, Stabbing Of San Jose Store Clerk
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A man has been arrested in the June 6 kidnapping, assault and robbery in East San Jose of a store clerk who was stabbed before the suspect fled with money and store items, San Jose police said Wednesday.
Isaac Elias Mata, 25, was taken into custody on June 18 by the San Jose Police Department's Covert Response Unit, a squad of undercover enforcement officers, police said.
Mata, of San Jose, was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, false imprisonment and burglary in the attack on the female store clerk, police said.
The clerk was in the store in the 1500 block of Mt. Pleasant Road near Clayton Road that afternoon when the suspect entered and asked to use the store's bathroom, police said.
She recognized the suspect as a regular customer and permitted him to enter the bathroom, police said.
Later, she realized that the suspect had never left the store and she was unable to find him there, police said.
Around 6:15 p.m., she locked the store's front door to use the bathroom herself but on her way the suspect appeared holding a knife, grabbed and forced her to another part of the store and demanded money.
The suspect ordered her to open the store's safe, but when she told him she could not unlock it, he allegedly stabbed her at least once, police said.
The man finally fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash and some goods from the business, police said.
The Police Department's Robbery Unit later identified Mata as the suspect, police said.
Officers from the Covert Response Unit, which uses covert surveillance tactics to capture suspects, arrested Mata in San Jose without incident at 5:30 p.m. on June 18, police said.
He remains in custody on no bail and his next court appearance will be on July 13, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections.
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