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Published on 09/07/1998 All articles from this issue

Los Altos Hills man gets 4-year sentence for molesting teen picked up downtown

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

A Los Altos Hills man has received four years in prison for three felony child molestation charges involving a Los Altos teen.

On Sept. 4, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge John Ball sentenced 34-year-old Matthew Vand to prison, said Javier Alcala, the Santa Clara County deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.

During the summer of 1997, Vand, who was on parole from prison for armed robbery, hung out at Starbuck's in downtown Los Altos, Alcala said.

He befriended a group of teens who had recently graduated from eighth grade at St. Nicholas School, Alcala said.

According to Alcala, Vand told the teens he was 24. One day he invited a girl and two boys "to party" at a home in Los Altos Hills, Alcala said.

According to court documents, the "party" happened at the home of Los Altos Hills City Councilwoman Toni Casey, said Sgt. Jim Arata, spokesman for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office. In 1997 Casey was mayor of Los Altos Hills.

Casey was out of town at the time of the incident, Alcala said.

According to Alcala, Vand rented a room from Casey. Arata confirmed that the address given for Vand's residence, throughout court documents, was the same as Casey's address.

"That's the address where the incident occurred and the address on the warrant," Arata said. "It showed up all over the place" in the court documents.

Casey declined to be interviewed for this story.

On the way to Casey's house, Vand stopped at the Safeway on First Street and bought "a large bottle" of vodka and some orange juice, Alcala said.

After all the teens were "a bit intoxicated," Vand took the 15-year-old girl upstairs with him, Alcala said.

"She testified that she said he was too old for her as he was kissing her," Alcala said. "But she was reluctant to say that she was forced."

Had she been forced, Vand could have received 10-20 years of prison time, Alcala said.

Vand was convicted of three charges that involved molesting a minor aged 14 to 15, Alcala said, and now is a registered sex offender.

This is not Vand's first trip to prison.

About five years ago, he worked at a Burger King in Sunnyvale, Alcala said. He "waited in a bathroom until closing," came out wearing a ski mask, pointed a pellet gun and robbed the other employees.

One thought she recognized his voice. So Sunnyvale police met Vand at his home and caught him with the ski mask, the pellet gun and the loot, Alcala said.

He served time for armed robbery, becoming a first-strike offender.

Alcala said the teens had no idea of Vand's real age or his past.

"When the kids came with their parents to testify, they were nonchalant," Alcala said. "When I told them he'd (Vand) just gotten out of prison for armed robbery, their eyes got as big as saucers."

Before Vand was sentenced, Casey wrote "a glowing letter on his account," Alcala said, "and she recommended the minimal possible sentence for him." That could have been no prison time at all, Alcala said.

At one time Vand had been an assistant soccer coach for a girl's team in Los Altos, Alcala said.

"We have the sense in Los Altos that it's a very safe place to be - and it is," said Alcala, who also lives in Los Altos. "But there are some predators out there."