Salinas Councilwoman Speaks Out After Son’s Arrest

After her son was arrested, Salinas Councilwoman Gloria De Le Rosa spoke out against the media coverage surrounding the incident.

“I want the community to know I am a victim of domestic violence. As a victim I regret that my name and my home address were disclosed through the news media because the names and addresses of domestic violence victims are protected by law,” said De Le Rosa as she read from a prepared statement.

The domestic violence that she is referring to happened the day before Thanksgiving. A woman called police to report that a man was acting violent at a house on the 700 block of St. Michael Way. That man was 31-year-old Aaron Reyes, De Le Rosa’s son.

When police arrived on scene they said Reyes had broken a door in the house and even bit an officer on the finger. Reyes was arrested and charged with battery of a police officer, resisting arrest and vandalism.

As a policy, police do not release the name or address of domestic violence victims. Salinas police sent out a news release that only had the location of the incident as the 700 block of St. Michael Way and they never named the victim. Giving a street name is the typical information that Salinas Police releases.

“While I recognize that I am a public figure, I am also a mother, it is a private family matter. Please respect my privacy as our family deals with this issue,” she said. Central Coast News has also never identified De Le Rosa as the victim in this case. We did report that Reyes was her son and the incident happened in her home.

This is the second time the Councilwoman De Le Rosa has been in the headlines after one of her son’s was arrested. In 2002, her son Gabriel Reyes served time for trying to sell a gun on Facebook. The potential buyers that he met turned out to be officers. All those charges carried gang enhancements.