Top San Francisco Area Local News Stories
Source: MedleyStory
A judge Friday set a Sept. 17 trial date for Giselle Esteban on a charge that she murdered nursing student Michelle Le, coincidentally on the one-year anniversary of the day Le's remains were found in a remote area between Pleasanton and Sunol.
Le, a 26-year-old San Mateo woman who was attending Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, had disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward on May 27.
Esteban, a 28-year-old Union City woman who attended high school with Le in San Diego, was charged with Le's murder on Sept. 8 -- before Le's body was found -- based on DNA evidence and cellphone records.
An Alameda County criminal grand jury indicted Esteban on an identical murder charge on Dec. 14 at the end of a three-day hearing. Prosecutors sought the indictment to try to speed up her trial.
The indictment allows prosecutors to bypass the step of having a preliminary hearing at which a judge determines if there is enough evidence against a defendant for a case to proceed to trial.
Esteban, who is being held at the county jail without bail, is scheduled to return to the courtroom of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta on March 5 for a hearing on several pretrial motions.
According to the transcript of the grand jury's hearing, prosecutors believe that Esteban stalked and murdered Le because she blamed Le for wrecking her relationship with Scott Marasigan, who is the father of Esteban's daughter.
Esteban gave birth to a second child in November while she was in custody but the father of that child hasn't been disclosed.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:29:24 -0800
A 19-year-old Oakland man was sentenced Friday to 35 years to life in state prison for murdering a man who was on his way to the store to buy milk for his family.
Eugene Richardson was convicted last month of first-degree murder for the death of 23-year-old Wayl Aljunaidi near a Walgreens pharmacy and a taco truck in the 3200 block of Foothill Boulevard in Oakland at about 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2009.
Prosecutors in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office said Aljunaidi was on his way from his family's home near Foothill Boulevard and 35th Avenue to the Walgreens when Richardson and two other men accosted him.
They said Richardson shot Aljunaidi in the back as he tried to flee and then Richardson and the two other suspects robbed Aljunaidi of his money and jewelry and fled from the scene.
Richardson and Devonne Young, one of the other suspects, were arrested two months after the fatal shooting.
Young pleaded no contest to a robbery charge shortly before Richardson's trial began. The third suspect hasn't been identified.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:04:47 -0800
A San Francisco police officer was charged Friday with assaulting a woman he was dating during an off-duty incident in January, a district attorney's office spokeswoman said.
Richard Soares was charged with felony assault and misdemeanor domestic violence battery in connection with the Jan. 7 incident, which occurred at the Slide nightclub at 430 Mason St., prosecutors said.
Soares allegedly pushed the woman, causing her to hit her head and suffer a 1-inch laceration to the back of her head, district attorney's office spokeswoman Stephanie Ong Stillman said.
Soares could be arraigned on the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of four years in state prison, as soon as Tuesday, Stillman said.
Police spokesman Officer Carlos Manfredi said that Soares, who worked in the department's field operations bureau, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:10:31 -0800
Those planning to drive over the Bay Bridge toward San Francisco this holiday weekend will need to make alternate travel plans, as the bridge's upper deck closes Friday night to allow for another major construction project to pave the way for the new eastern span.
Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said that the closure will allow crews to construct a detour near the toll plaza and to stripe lanes and place a guide rail along the route.
The detour carrying westbound traffic will shift traffic to the south of its existing path, making room for construction crews that need to demolish sections of the existing roadway that are in the path of the yet-to-be-built inclined section that will carry eastbound traffic from the new east span of the bridge.
The bridge's upper deck will be closed from 8 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Tuesday, although weather could delay the deck's reopening. Eastbound traffic, carried on the lower deck, will be unaffected by the closure.
Vehicle travel between Treasure Island and San Francisco will also be unaffected, according to bridge officials.
Alternatives for crossing the Bay include taking BART, which will run overnight service at 14 stations during the closure, hopping a ferry from the East Bay or Vallejo, or taking the Richmond-San Rafael, San Mateo-Hayward or Dumbarton bridges.
AC Transit, which will not operate over the bridge during the closure, will provide regular service in the East Bay by connecting to and from the West Oakland BART station.
More information can be found at bart.gov, actransit.org, eastbayferry.com, baylinkferry.com and 511.org
During the closure, motorists are recommended to check the Bay Bridge website -- baybridgeinfo.org -- for updates and to visit 511.org or call 511 for real-time traffic conditions and information on detours and public transit.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:54:58 -0800
San Jose firefighters have rescued a Caltrans delivery truck driver who went off Mt. Hamilton Road and fell down a 100-foot embankment Friday afternoon, a fire spokeswoman said.
The male driver may have had chest pains when he lost control and veered off the road six miles up on Mt. Hamilton Road from Alum Rock at about 2:10 p.m., a dispatcher said.
A fire rescue response team responded to help hoist the man up the hill.
San Jose fire Capt. Mary Gutierrez said the man was extricated from the truck, placed in a basket and then lifted with ropes.
The rescue was complicated due to the steep embankment, she said.
His truck will be towed Saturday morning.
At about 4:25 p.m., the man was airlifted to a trauma center. He has significant injuries from driving down the cliff, said Gutierrez.
The man was the only occupant in the truck.
The California Highway Patrol also responded to assist.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:52:01 -0800
A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light-rail train collided with a big-rig in San Jose Friday afternoon, injuring two passengers and blocking train and vehicle traffic in the area for more than two hours, an agency spokeswoman said.
The northbound two-car light-rail train struck a semi truck around 1:20 p.m. at North First and East Taylor streets, midway between the Civic Center and the Japantown/Ayer Station, said VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress.
The truck appears to have been traveling west on East Taylor Street when it made a right-hand turn on to North First Street that brought it into the train's path, Childress said.
Two people on the train were transported to the hospital, Childress said. She did not know the extent of the passengers' injuries.
She also did not know how many passengers were on the train but described it as "fully loaded."
There were no injuries to either the train operator or the truck driver.
The accident was cleared from the scene shortly after 3:30 p.m., and train and vehicle traffic has resumed in the area.
As is standard in accident investigations, VTA officials will place the train operator on paid administrative leave while drug tests are conducted. In addition, video footage from cameras on the train will be handed over to investigators, Childress said.
San Jose police and the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office will be handling the investigation, with San Jose police taking the lead, she said.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:34:43 -0800
A father took his newborn baby from Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley at about 1 p.m. Friday before the infant girl was medically cleared by a pediatrician, but the Alameda County Sheriff's Department said it is not handling the case as an infant abduction.
Hospital officials said the baby's mother and father were waiting for the pediatrician when the mother stepped away and the father, 18-year-old Seagram Miller, left with the newborn.
The father of the two-day old infant girl took of the baby's security braclet and removed the baby from the maternity ward on the second floor of the hospital. Because both parents have legal custody of the newborn and the mother doesn't feel the infant is in any danger, authorities said no crime has been committed.
"The mother does not feel the baby is in any danger whatsoever," said Alameda County Sheriff's spokesperson J.D. Nelson.
However, the Alameda Sheriff's Department still issued an alert out of concern for the infant's well-being since the father had not been in contact with the mother since taking the child from the hospital. They were also concerned with how the baby would be fed away from the mother.
"We are very sorry that this happened to this mother and baby. As with any newborn, this baby needs to be with its mother," Eden officials said.
The father was able to remove the baby's security bracelet because she weighed only six pounds
The hospital said that although the mother had been discharged she is still at the hospital.
Eden officials said the father is driving a gray 1996 Ford Taurus with California license plate 6EUC277.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:42:43 -0800
Oakland police secured the scene of a reported shooting in East Oakland Friday afternoon, but no victims or suspects were located.
Oakland police said two young Latino men and two young African-American men exchanged fire in a shootout at 100th Avenue and International Boulevard.
"Several individuals ran in all different directions," said Johnna Watson, Oakland police spokeswoman.
Police cordoned off the area to traffic, and several police officers were on the scene outside of an AutoZone after it was thought that one shooter barricaded himself inside the business, police said.
KTVU News Chopper 2 spotted several customers and employees exiting the AutoZone with their hands above their heads.
Then, a small group of armed tactical officers moved inside.
Officers said they spent less than a half-hour searching the store, but didn't find a gunman.
Police reported clearing the scene shortly before 3 p.m.
"We have seen an increase in violent crimes involving firearms in this area," Watson said.
Two hours before Friday's shooting, another a young man was shot in the arm less than a mile away at the 9600 block of E Street.
Coincidentally, City Councilman Larry Reid spent the morning discussing the city's 100-block safety plan with a few community groups.
The meeting and both shootings were within a two-mile radius of each other.
"At some point, I'm just hoping we get all this under control," Reid said. "There's just too many guns on the streets in the hands of individuals that have no sense of value of life."
Police said they are investigating whether the two shooting were connected and gang related.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:45:55 -0800
The tedious and grisly search for the long-lost victims of two California serial killers continued Friday with the addition of dogs specially trained to sniff out human remains.
San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies and other searchers this week have extracted some 1,000 human bone fragments from an old well near the farming town of Linden, about 80 miles east of San Francisco. They hit bottom Thursday and spent Friday examining piles of debris taken from the well while ensuring the well itself was thoroughly searched.
The bones are being sent to the California Department of Justice for possible identification through DNA analysis.
Department spokesman Les Garcia said Friday that authorities are using specially trained "cadaver dogs" to examine the debris piles and determine whether other nearby wells also contain human remains. There's a possibility that another well will be dug up, depending on what the dogs find.
The dogs are on loan from Santa Clara County and are the same hounds that turned up two sets of human remains in Calaveras County two weeks ago that were tentatively identified as two women Wesley Shermantine was convicted of killing and burying on property once owned by his family.
Searchers are pursuing information provided by Shermantine, one of the two so-called "Speed Freak Killers" who are suspected of murdering as many as 20 people in the 1980s and 1990s. Shermantine, who was convicted of four murders and now sits on death row, has given investigators maps to the burial sites after Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla promised to pay him $33,000 for the information.
Shermantine's partner in the killings, Loren Herzog, committed suicide last month after being told Shermantine was cooperating with authorities.
Garcia said the dogs will help searchers determine where to look next after Shermantine provided information about five separate sites where he says the victims could be buried. A sheriff's hotline for people who believe their loved ones could be among the victims being found has received more than 50 calls.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:29:39 -0800
Philanthropist and bluegrass lover Warren Hellman will be honored Sunday with a free concert at Ocean Beach.
The day-long tribute to Hellman, who died at the age of 77 in December of leukemia, will feature performers including John Doe, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch, Boz Scaggs, Robert Earl Keen and Emmylou Harris and Hellman's band, The Wronglers.
All of the performers are regulars at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the annual Golden Gate Park musical festival that Hellman founded.
Hellman, a founder of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC, also helped found the San Francisco School Alliance and The Bay Citizen, a nonprofit news organization.
Sunday's concert will take place on two stages on Great Highway between JFK Drive and Lincoln Avenue from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Concertgoers can arrive as early as 8 a.m. but the concert area has limited capacity. The event will be streamed live online and organizers are encouraging viewing parties at home.
The event has street parking only, and those attending are strongly urged to use public transportation. A few schools in the area including Presidio Middle School, Francis Scott Key Elementary and Lafayette Elementary will offer paid vehicle parking, and there will be bike parking facilities at the event.
No pets are allowed except for service animals, and alcohol, tall chairs and umbrellas are banned.
More information about the concert can be found at www.strictlybluegrass.com.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:25:54 -0800
A parolee wanted in Pinole for a fraud offense was arrested in the attic of a Fairfield apartment after a high-speed chase along Interstate Highway 80 Thursday.
Pinole police Chief John Hardester said Xavier Watson, 21, of Fairfield, tried to pass a fictitious check using his own identification at the Chase Bank at 1541 Fitzgerald Drive in Pinole around 1:15 p.m.
Watson was gone when Pinole police arrived at the bank but bank employees gave a description of Watson's green two-door Honda, Hardester said.
Police broadcast the vehicle description over the dispatch center they share with Hercules police, Hardester said.
Hercules police officers spotted Watson's Honda and informed Fairfield police he was heading east on Highway 80 at 1:38 p.m., Fairfield police Lt. Joe Allio said.
The California Highway Patrol joined the pursuit that reached speeds as high as 90 mph and also monitored Watson's flight by plane.
Watson exited the highway at Air Base Parkway in Fairfield and drove to the Parkway Gardens apartments on El Basset Court where he either had a previous address or a contact, Allio said.
Watson ran into an apartment and Fairfield police tried to contact him on his cell phone and the phone in the apartment, Allio said. Police also used a public address system to urge Watson to surrender, but two officers eventually entered the apartment, Allio said.
The two officers determined Watson was in the attic above the apartment, Allio said. Other officers used a battering ram to enter the next-door apartment that shared the same attic space, Allio said.
The two officers then fired pepper spray balls in powder form and entered the attic. Watson was found hiding under insulation and was arrested at 3:31 p.m., Allio said.
He was booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of a parole violation and evading police, Allio said. Hardester said Pinole police also will add charges against Watson.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:05:19 -0800
A man wearing a black ski mask robbed a 7-Eleven store in Palo Alto at gunpoint on Thursday morning, police said.
The robbery happened at about 6:15 a.m. Thursday at the 7-Eleven located at 708 Colorado Ave., according to police.
A man walked into the store with a handgun and asked for money. The clerk, who was the only person in the store at the time, handed over an undisclosed amount of cash and the suspect fled on foot, then possibly drove away in a red sedan, police said.
The suspect remains at large. He was described as standing six feet tall with a medium build. He was wearing all dark clothing, dark sunglasses and dark gloves.
No one was harmed in the course of the robbery, which does not appear to be connected to two street robberies in Palo Alto and Menlo Park on Tuesday, police said.
Police are asking anyone with information about the robbery to call the department's 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413, e-mail anonymous tips to paloalto@tipnow.org, or send anonymous voicemails or text messages to (650) 383-8984.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:58:45 -0800
Newark police are searching for a 28-year-old man suspected of fleeing the scene of a car crash that occurred Thursday evening as police pursued him.
Police said they located a loaded .357 Magnum revolver and marijuana inside a vehicle that was allegedly driven by Patrick Gregoire, who is wanted on two felony arrest warrants.
At 5:07 p.m., an officer observed the vehicle make a traffic violation, then speed off on eastbound Cedar Boulevard.
While trying to locate the vehicle, the officer encountered a crash between the suspect's vehicle and a second vehicle, police said. The driver of the second vehicle was transported to a hospital for a complaint of pain to his head and chest.
Witnesses told police that the suspect's vehicle had crossed into opposing traffic and collided head-on with the second vehicle before its driver fled on foot, possibly to the roof of a nearby shopping center.
Newark and Union City SWAT teams searched the building's roof but did not locate the suspect. Police Detective Sgt. Mike Carroll said the search was called off at about 10 p.m.
Gregoire was already wanted on two warrants in Alameda County and Newark for possession of stolen property and possession of narcotics for sale.
Police described Gregoire as a white man who is 5 feet 11 inches tall, 180 pounds, has brown hair and brown eyes and is known to frequent the Newark, Fremont and Castro Valley areas.
Anyone with information about the crash or Gregoire's whereabouts is asked to call Detective Sgt. Mike Carroll at (510) 578-4247, or the anonymous tip line at (510) 578-4000.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:51:00 -0800
A Santa Rosa man was arrested for child endangerment Wednesday after the California Highway Patrol stopped his car because a passenger was not wearing a seatbelt.
CHP Officer Shawn Harvey stopped a Plymouth van driving in front of him on East Robles Avenue near Santa Rosa Avenue south of Santa Rosa around 3:20 p.m. when he noticed a passenger was not wearing a seatbelt, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.
The driver, Jon Clarence Thomson, 36, of Santa Rosa, was on probation and was prohibited from using alcohol and possessing weapons, Sloat said.
Harvey smelled alcohol on Thomson's breath and noticed Thomson was carrying a knife, Sloat said. He arrested Thomson after he failed field sobriety tests, Sloat said.
A 12-year old boy, the boy's mother and another passenger who was sober were in the van, Sloat said.
Thomson was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of DUI, violation of probation and child endangerment, Sloat said.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:24:23 -0800
Hazardous materials workers are working to pinpoint the source of a sulfur-like odor reported in the area of Antioch Friday morning.
Contra Costa County's hazardous materials department first received calls around 3 a.m. from residents in the area reporting a "rotten egg-like" smell, according to county hazmat director Randy Sawyer.
Sawyer said it's unlikely the smell came from a wind turbine malfunction at a PG&E natural-gas plant on Wilber Avenue this morning, and a PG&E spokeswoman said investigators this morning determined that the equipment failure was unrelated to the smell.
No PG&E customers were affected by the malfunction, which prompted crews to shut down the plant around 4 a.m. to make repairs.
The plant was expected to be fully operational by 10:30 a.m., spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:18:49 -0800
Oakland's city administrator is investigating a teen center that is funded by the cash-strapped city, but run by a councilwoman.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Councilwoman Desley Brooks's aides have been paid to staff the Digital Arts and Culinary Academy on International Boulevard.
Critics say the arrangement is a conflict of interest. They say Brooks should not be running a center that, as a councilwoman, she is supposed to help oversee.
Brooks's response is that she did not want to run the center, but stepped in because the city had not found a way to fund it.
Seven of Brooks's aides made between $3,000 and $20,000 each last year teaching audio and video production, cooking and agriculture there.
The city bought the building the teen center resides in for $800,000 in 2007.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:55:00 -0800
Residents of a five-unit building in Alamo were displaced from their homes early Friday morning after a kitchen fire sparked in one unit and started to spread, according to the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District.
Fire personnel received a report of the structure fire in the 1100 block of Danville Boulevard at 12:48 a.m., fire district spokeswoman Kimberly French said.
Smoke alarms in the home where the kitchen fire started alerted residents to the blaze, which sent smoke billowing from the building, French said.
Firefighters were able to knock down the fire in about 40 minutes, and no one was injured.
Damage to the building and property was estimated at around $75,000, French said.
Investigators believe the fire started in one unit's kitchen, and was possibly sparked by a wall heater, but the cause has not yet been determined.
The American Red Cross was called to assist residents from three of the building's units who have been displaced from their homes
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:46:20 -0800
A man was stabbed during an altercation in San Francisco's Mission District early Friday morning, police said.
The 53-year-old victim was stabbed in the lower back during a fight reported at about 1:35 a.m. near the intersection of Mission and 24th streets, according to police.
Officers responded and arrested the suspected stabber, a 21-year-old man whose name was not immediately available, police said.
The victim was taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:26:11 -0800
Prosecutors do not plan to file charges against Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's wife in connection with his domestic violence case.
District Attorney George Gascon said on Thursday he has no intention whatsoever to prosecute Eliana Lopez. Mirkarimi is accused of grabbing and bruising Lopez's arm during an argument on New Year's Eve.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Lopez's attorney, Paula Canny, has said her client was worried that she, like her husband, could also face a child endangerment charge since the couple's young son witnessed the alleged domestic violence incident.
Lopez, too, has denied the abuse allegations.
Canny has said she will advise her client to take the Fifth if she is called to testify at her husband's trial without being granted immunity. The trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 24.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:59:21 -0800
While rewards are not uncommon when it comes the capture of a suspect, Michael Nasser’s proved to be particularly poignant.
Nasser, who had lost his job as a San Jose police officer in a wave of budget cutbacks, was in the right place at the right time to help put three alleged banker robbers behind bars earlier this week.
When Nasser drove into the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Bank at Bernal Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard on Tuesday, his honed powers of observation told him something was wrong.
"As I was parking, I saw three guys run into the bank,"Nasser told KTVU. "They had hoods on their heads and masks around their faces."
Nasser realized a bank robbery was in progress.
Nasser followed them from a distance as they ran two blocks to a Golds Gym parking lot when they got into an SUV. Nasser said he called the license plate into 9-1-1.
"At one quick second I thought about hitting them with my car in the parking lot but didn't think it was a good idea," Nasser said.
Police arrested the trio in Salinas an hour later.
Currently, Jose Lemus, 20; Jonathan Garcia, 23; and Bryan Chavez, 20, are behind bars.
They are also believed responsible for robbing a Union Bank in San Jose on Monday.
Police are praising Nasser for what he did.
"He is the poster child of what we ask the public to do," said Sgt. Jason Dwyer of the San Jose Police Department. "He was able to maintain some distance, he was able to get a license plate number."
Nasser was pink-slipped from San Jose police last year and fearing the loss of medical insurance for his son and wife he left for another police department. But Thursday he was wearing San Jose police badge because the department called back.
"Some of the things I did I think were instinctual, just from years of working," Nasser said.
Nasser said he's glad to be back and part of his first paycheck will go towards buying his wife the Valentines day dinner they missed because he was helping catch bank robbers.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:12:13 -0800
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