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News Briefs
Jail, Counseling for Girl Who Hid Drugs on Sister
The 18-year-old girl who asked her 10-year-old sister to hide heroin in her sweatshirt during a routine traffic stop was
sentenced to nine months in jail and ordered to complete child abuse counseling.
Maria Guadalupe Miranda receives credit for four days against her term, which the court recommended be served through
the work furlough program. Miranda must also spend four years on supervised probation following the sentence and register
as a drug offender, according to court records clerks.
Miranda, who has been free on a $25,000 bail bond, pleaded no contest in April to felony drug possession for sale and
misdemeanor child endangerment. The plea bargain dismissed other charges of drug possession for sale and transporting
drugs.
On March 23, Redwood City police pulled Miranda over and reported she had only a Carlmont High School identification
card. During a voluntary search of Miranda’s wallet, the officer reportedly found two twists of cocaine and heroin. The officer
also reported finding two ounces of heroin in the sweatshirt of Miranda’s 10-year-old sister. The girl allegedly told police
Miranda gave the drugs to her to hide.
Miranda was to take the drugs to somebody at the Hillsdale Shopping Center to earn money for college, according to the
District Attorney’s Office.
Miranda’s 6-year-old cousin was also in the vehicle.
Men Rob Store With Hammer
Two men armed with a gun and a hammer robbed a Redwood City cell phone store and sent an employee to the hospital with
head injuries, police reported.
The men entered the store at 3708 Florence St. The duo had a gun and a hammer. They used the hammer to shatter a
display case and steal the phones inside. They also hit a store employee in the head with the hammer. An employee was
transported to the hospital with unknown injuries, said Sgt. Steve Blanc of the Redwood City Police Department.
Police issued a countywide alert for the two suspects and searched the area. However, the two men were never located,
Blanc said.
Both men are described as Pacific Islanders. One was taller, bald and was wearing a black shirt. He was armed with the
gun. The other was shorter, heavyset and wearing a white shirt. They were last seen fleeing the scene in a gray, older model
PT Cruiser with tinted windows, according to police reports.
Anyone with information about this incident should call the Redwood City Police Department at 780-7100.
Girl, 3, Falls From RWC Bridge
A 3-year-old is in serious condition at Stanford Hospital after riding her bike off a pedestrian ramp in Redwood City.
The girl was riding her bike on the Stambaugh Street bridge over Woodside Road. She was with her mother. The descent
from the bridge to Manzanita Street below is created by two ramps that hit each other at a right angle. The girl was riding her
bike down the top part of the ramp and failed to negotiate the turn onto the second part of the ramp. She hit a cyclone fence
at the turn, but careened through it and fell just short of 18 feet to an empty lot below, said Redwood City police Capt. Chris
Cesena.
The girl suffered abdominal and minor head injuries along with cuts, scrapes and bruises. She was rushed to Stanford
Hospital, where she remains in serious condition, Cesena said.
The girl was not wearing a helmet, Cesena said.
The Redwood City Police Department is collecting evidence and writing a report on the case while the Redwood City
Public Works Department and Caltrans decide who is responsible for the bridge maintenance.
“It is our understanding that Caltrans is responsible for the maintenance,” Cesena said.
The fence was fixed immediately following the accident, according to a police report.
Lomas and Jackson had been married dozens of years and raised four children. The fourth child, however, was allegedly
fathered by another man although raised by Lomas.
Brewer “was thinking it might not be his” but testified he never told Lomas. Lomas treated the boy as his own son and
appeared close to all the children, Brewer said.
He was unaware if Linda Jackson Lomas was unfaithful, and her husband never mentioned suspicions, Brewer said.
Brewer said Lomas had given up the “heavy drinking” of his past but in the weeks preceding the murder acknowledged
getting so drunk at a bar his sister had to take him home.
When Brewer declined to say he was aware of Lomas’ drinking beyond that incident, prosecutor Al Giannini pressed him
to agree he was also unaware of the robberies.
“Isn’t it true for at least four years there was a side of Robert you just never saw?” Giannini asked.
“That’s correct,” Brewer said.
Lomas remains in custody on no-bail status.
Redwood City Man in Custody After Fatal Crash
The California Highway Patrol has identified the driver of a black Toyota Camry that is being blamed for a fiery traffic
accident on Interstate 280 that sent two people to the hospital and killed another.
Redwood City resident Guadalupe Gomez, 68, was allegedly spotted driving the Toyota at speeds estimated by witnesses
to be in excess of 100 mph and using all four lanes of southbound Interstate 280, including the left shoulder.
At least one witness put the erratic driving behavior as far back as Wolfe Road in Cupertino, about seven miles north of
Race Street, where the accident happened.
It was near the Meridian Avenue area north of Race Street that Gomez’s Toyota apparently clipped a Mazda 626 driven by
27-year-old Los Gatos resident Jedidiah Lee Dooley. The Mazda spun into the center divide.
Gomez’s Toyota then struck a Honda in the rear, causing both the Honda and the Toyota to spin out, both eventually
coming to a stop.
The Honda then burst into flames with the unidentified male driver inside. He was later declared deceased.
Dooley was treated for minor cuts to his face at San Jose Regional Medical Center. Gomez was transported to Valley
Medical Center and treated for cuts to his head and a fractured right leg, according to the CHP.
What was left was a scene of carnage. At 11 a.m. the black Camry sat with its front end smashed. The Honda was not
recognizable as it sat facing oncoming traffic. The roof of the Honda was ripped up and open and the interior, melted and
charred, was exposed for passing motorists to see. Plastic and glass debris covered all five lanes and stretched for almost a
hundred yards.
Gomez was arrested at the hospital for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
It is not clear whether there was alcohol involved and the CHP will test the vehicle for any sign of mechanical failure, CHP
Officer Todd Thibodeau said.
The accident was reported around 7:40 a.m. and was finally cleared at about noon. The accident had traffic backed up for
miles in both directions of Interstate 280.
Police Search for Man With Knife
A midday domestic dispute turned into a large-scale search for a bloody man with a knife on the run in the North Fair Oaks
neighborhood of unincorporated San Mateo County.
Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to conflicting reports of gunshots and a stabbing at a residence on the 400 block of
Eighth Avenue in the unincorporated area near Redwood City. When police arrived they were able to determine, through
translators, that no one was shot, said Lt. Lisa Williams of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
Alejandro Acosta, 40, was visiting with his estranged wife and family the previous day. He arrived back at the address
the next day. When the family wouldn’t allow him inside the residence, Acosta punched his arm through a window to gain
entrance. He fled the area on foot with a knife from the residence, Williams said.
Officers tried to track down Acosta in the area and in surrounding cities, but could not locate him. He was last seen in blue
jeans and a bloody white tank top, according to police reports.
He is wanted for charges related to the assault, an outstanding warrant for assault with a deadly weapon and a federal
immigration warrant, Williams said.
Anyone with information about Acosta or his whereabouts should call the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office at 363-1536
or the anonymous tip line at 1-800-574-2700.
Friend Says Bank Robber Loved Wife
Law enfoLaw enforcement officials believe Robert Lomas spent weeks as the “Gilligan robber” before stabbing his wife to
death May 21 in their North Fair Oaks home.
To Earley Brewer, however, Lomas is “Bob,” a friend for more than three decades who liked playing dominoes, loved his
wife, Linda Jackson Lomas, and nearly fell apart when she was hospitalized for bypass surgery.
“He loved Linda,” Brewer testified Friday in a conditional hearing. “I just didn’t believe he killed Linda.”
A criminal grand jury indicted Lomas before he even entered an initial plea to one count of first-degree murder and seven
counts of robbery. Once in Superior Court, Lomas pleaded not guilty and was ordered back to court Sept. 18 to set a trial date.
The long lag time left defense attorney Richard Keyes worried Brewer, who has stage-four cancer originating in his
stomach, could die before testifying about the Lomases relationship.
Both sides agreed to Friday’s conditional hearing in which testimony is videotaped and transcribed for future use.
Aside from the murder, Lomas is accused of five bank robberies since April 21. Crimes from Newark and Mountain View
will be combined into the San Mateo County cases because Lomas brought the money back here, according to the District
Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors believe Lomas is responsible for a number of other bank robberies, too, but they fall outside the statute of
limitations.
Lomas’ bank robberies may have been propelled by a mountain of debt due to his wife’s medical conditions and the loss of
his auto store job following the domestic violence conviction, according to the prosecution.
In early April, Lomas was charged with domestic violence and ultimately sentenced to 15 days jail with the option of
serving in the Sheriff’s Work Program. He was supposed to surrender June 19 and enroll in domestic violence class by May
22. However, Lomas was reportedly rejected from the class May 21 for lack of funds to pay the approximate $75 fee.
At 9:55 a.m. that day, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from an unidentified man reporting a
woman dead at 2830B Huntington Ave. in the unincorporated area of Redwood City. Reports Lomas himself made the call
have not been confirmed.
Lomas remained at large until approximately 9 p.m. when he approached officers near the crime scene and turned himself in.
During his police interview, Lomas reportedly said his wife was unfaithful with a number of men. He allegedly believed
his wife was giving the money he stole to these men.
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