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News Briefs
Kennedy Boys Admit to Sex Attack
Three middle school boys admitted to sex-related crimes related to a March
attack on two 12-year-old girls during a school field trip to a Redwood City
park.
Two boys, 13 and 14 years old, admitted to lewd and lascivious conduct,
which could mean up to eight years in a state juvenile detention facility, said
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. A 12-year-old boy admitted to sexual
battery, which could mean one year in custody. Two other boys were involved
in the incident. All of the boys will be in court again Friday, Aug. 5.
Names of the boys were not released because they are minors.
Four remain in custody while one, one of the three who entered a plea, is
under house arrest.
School district officials said the alleged attack occurred March 4 when 20
Kennedy Middle School students went to the park, chaperoned by a teacher
and an aide. The girls didn’t share details of the assault until June while
talking to a school counselor.
The Redwood City School District is conducting an internal investigation
of the incident and the safety procedures in place.
Attempted Burglar Hit With Bear Spray
A residential burglar hiding in a master bedroom closet of a home on the
3500 block of Bay Road in unincorporated Redwood City fled the scene after
the resident hit him with bear spray, according to police.
The resident found the man hiding and sprayed him. The man then dove
out the window, climbed over the backyard fence and hid. Sheriff deputies
arrested the man, identified as Edgar Aguiniga, 30, of East Palo Alto,
according to police.
Suspected Burglar Arrested
A Redwood City man was arrested for stealing from lockers at the Pacific
Athletic Club in Redwood Shores, according to police.
Redwood City police detectives arrested Jared Beltramo, 39, for burglary,
grand theft and possession of stolen property. A search warrant was served at
his residence on the 600 block of Arlington Road, and stolen property from the
club, along with a residential burglary, was discovered, according to police.
Two Reported With Gun on Sequoia Campus
Redwood City police are on the lookout for two boys, approximately 15 to 16
years old, who were reportedly spotted on the Sequoia High School campus
with a firearm.
A resident reported seeing two white juveniles walking onto the campus
and seeing one pull a firearm out of his backpack and show it to the other
one. The resident also saw the boy take the magazine out of the gun and put it
back, according to police.
The resident followed the two to Broadway and Clinton Street while calling
police. The two could not be located, according to police.
Teen Gets Nine Years for Stabbing
A teen who prosecutors say was urged by two older gang members to stab a
man near the Redwood City train station to “earn his dots” was sentenced to
nine years prison for attempted murder.
Vladmir Ernesto Santos, 17, also admitted six special allegations, including
the use of a knife and committing the crime for the benefit of a street gang.
He was immediately sentenced with credit for 1,012 days earned while in
custody without bail.
He will begin his term at the California Youth Authority and transfer to
prison after turning 18, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
At the time of the Feb. 9, 2009, attack, Santos was 14 years old, which gave
him the dubious distinction of being the second-youngest person ever charged
with a violent crime as an adult in San Mateo County.
According to prosecutors, Santos met up with Norteños Edgar Palomares
and Victor Joseph Sanchez near the downtown movie theater in Redwood
City and was told he could earn his dots — gang tattoos — by attacking a
rival Sureño. The trio spotted the 19-year-old victim walking alone near
Winslow and Hamilton streets at approximately 10:17 p.m. and whistled a call
specific to the Norteño gang. When the man, who isn’t a gang member, didn’t
respond, the three attacked. The older teens, 18 and 19, respectively, kicked
and beat the victim while Santos stabbed him several times with a knife in the
torso, pelvic area and across his face and hands. The man’s lung collapsed.
Two witnesses called Redwood City police, who captured the three
suspects. After the victim, who was laying on a gurney with an oxygen mask,
identified Sanchez, he tried to kick the wounded man and yelled at him not to
speak with police, according to prosecutors.
In July 2010, both Palomares and Sanchez accepted negotiated plea deals
for felony assault with a deadly weapon. Palomares also admitted acting to
benefit a street gang and committing a serious felony. He received four years.
Sanchez also pleaded no contest to making threats against a witness and was
sentenced to seven years in prison.
Santos has been in custody without bail.
Transient Accused of Raping 19-Year-Old Pleads Not Guilty
The transient accused of beating and sodomizing a 19-year-old acquaintance
inside a van parked near the Redwood City library pleaded not guilty to
sexual assault charges that could send him to prison for life.
Corey Lee Bell, 32, returns to court Aug. 17 for a preliminary hearing
on the charges of sodomy causing great bodily injury, assault by force and
making criminal threats.
Bell, who is deemed a habitual sex offender under the law, faces life
imprisonment if convicted because of the state’s one-strike sentencing rule.
Prosecutors say the teen joined Bell to drink in his van May 10 but was
attacked by the defendant and another man.
Bell and the other man, who remains unidentified, allegedly held the teen
down and sodomized him until he passed out. The teen said when he awoke
Bell was the only man with him and the other suspect remains at large.
Hospital staff reported the alleged assault days later after Bell sought medical care.
Bell’s previous convictions, all in 1993 in Santa Clara County, include
forced penetration with a foreign object, forced oral copulation with a minor
under 14, lewd and lascivious act with a child under 14 and forcible sodomy
with a child under 14. He was last released from prison in 2008, according to
the Megan’s Law database.
He remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail and a no-bail parole hold.
Man Robs 76 Station at Gunpoint
Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who robbed a
Redwood City gas station.
The man entered the 76 gas station at 1603 Broadway, Redwood City police
Sgt. Kevin Dolezal said. He brandished a silver handgun and demanded that
the attendant hand over money from the cash register, he said.
The attendant gave the man an undisclosed amount of cash, and the robber
ran away and got into a small green car, Dolezal said.
Police described the suspect as a Hispanic man in his early 20s who is
about 5 feet 3 inches tall. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked
to call the Redwood City Police Department at 650-780-7100.
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