At approximately 7:40 AM on July 17, 2025, Pacific Grove Police Officers responded to a report of a burglary that had occurred during the early morning hours at Pacific Grove Middle School, located at 835 Forest Avenue. Upon arrival, officers discovered signs of forced entry into the school’s cafeteria through a broken window.
The suspects—later identified as 23-year-old Gabriel Mario Guertin and 22-year-old Zachary Shelby Malone (residents of Pacific Grove) were arrested later that afternoon and charged with felony violations of California Penal Code Section 459 (Burglary) and Section 182 (Conspiracy).
Both Guertin and Malone have extensive prior arrest histories, and both were on active probation and/or supervised release. Guertin has been previously arrested for felony and misdemeanor domestic violence, false imprisonment, violations of probation, DUI, providing false information to a peace officer, and resisting or delaying an officer.
Malone’s history includes arrests for vandalism, DUI, resisting or delaying an officer, disorderly conduct, battery, loitering, child abuse, and criminal conspiracy. Notably, Malone had also been arrested just two days prior in connection with an unrelated battery investigation.The investigation revealed that several money tills inside the cafeteria had been opened and ransacked, though no money was reported stolen. However, a large quantity of food and food products was found to be missing from a walk-in refrigerator. The officers later located the large quantity of food that was dropped near Hillcrest Avenue.