Bay Area News Briefs

Bay City News

May 30, 2008

CDFA Issues Statement on Study by Apple Moth Spraying Opponents

The California Department of Food and Agriculture issued a statement Thursday afternoon responding to a report authored by a Marin County doctor released earlier Thursday by opponents of aerial spraying to combat the light brown apple moth.

“Aerially-applied moth pheromones have been used around the world for more than a decade with no indication of harm to people, pets or plants. This includes treatment for seven consecutive years in suburban Chicago, treatment in Austin, Texas, and treatment in the Madison, Wisconsin area. These are all densely populated areas. To date, the only impact to the environment or living things is confusion in male moths looking to mate with females,” the statement said.

The report, by Dr. Ann Haiden, concluded that not enough information is known about the possible adverse health effects of the spraying.

Haiden said the threat posed by the light brown apple moth is not serious enough to warrant aerial spraying.

“If we were dealing with the plague or something it might warrant this spray but this moth doesn’t seem to warrant it,” Haiden said during a conference call Thursday.

Haiden said her research found the chemical being sprayed, a pheromone, could adversely affect the respiratory and endocrine systems. An unidentified percentage of the population might be genetically predisposed to health problems caused by the spray, she said.

The Department of Food and Agriculture’s statement noted that aerial spraying has been halted and if and when it resumes the product used may not be the product that was the subject of Haiden’s study.

“Aerial treatment will not resume until a thorough battery of toxicology tests is completed on four products currently being considered. If a product other than Checkmate is chosen, this study would be obsolete as a forward-looking document of value to Bay Area residents,” according to the statement.

SF Federal Building Receives Bomb Threat for Bay Bridge

Searches of the Bay Bridge turned up nothing suspicious after a bomb threat Thursday afternoon was called into the San Francisco Federal Building.

The call was received around 2 p.m. and the California Highway Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard and the police departments of San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda were quickly notified, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer John Eastman.

Police marine units and three Coast Guard stations were dispatched to the bridge to search for suspicious items, while the CHP helped the traffic flow.

“Everything turned up negative,” according to Eastman, and the investigation into the threat was handed over to the FBI.

Olympic Track Coach Convicted of One Count of Lying, Jury Deadlocks on Two Others

An Olympic track coach was convicted in federal court in San Francisco Thursday of one count of lying to investigators in a sports steroids probe, but jurors deadlocked on two other counts.

Trevor Graham, 44, of Raleigh, N.C., whose athletes included disgraced Olympic medalist Marion Jones, is one of 11 people indicted in a case that began with a probe of sports drugs sales by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.

Eight others pleaded guilty to drug distribution or lying, one other was convicted and baseball home run champion Barry Bonds is awaiting trial on charges of perjury in grand jury testimony.

Graham aided the BALCO probe, which was already under way, when he anonymously sent officials a BALCO syringe containing a then-undetectable drug known as “the clear” in 2003.

Defense attorney William Keane called him a “whistleblower” while prosecutors alleged that Graham himself was an alternate source of performance-enhancing drugs and lied about it.

Graham was accused of three counts of making false statements to agents in a 2004 interview about his relationship with Angel Heredia, an admitted sports drug dealer in Laredo, Texas.

The jurors in the court of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston convicted Graham of lying when he said he last talked to Heredia by telephone in 1997. Prosecutors during the five-day trial had shown the jury phone records of more than 100 calls between 1997 and 2000.

But the jury deadlocked on whether Graham lied when he said he never set up his athletes with drugs from Heredia and never met him in person.

Illston declared a mistrial on those two counts and scheduled sentencing on the third count for Sept. 5. The count carries a possible maximum sentence of five years but the penalty is likely to be lower than that under federal sentencing guidelines.

Unanswered Questions Remain after Body Identified

Alameda County Sheriff’s investigators said Thursday that they have finally determined the identity of a woman whose body was found in a remote area 17 years ago but there are still many unanswered questions in the case, such as who killed her.

Sgt. Scott Dudek said DNA samples from family members have allowed them to establish that Vicenta Turcios Sanchez-Orellana was the person whose burned and badly-beaten body was discovered in a deep ravine off Palomares Road in an unincorporated area outside Castro Valley at about 12:10 a.m. on Jan. 27, 1991.

Dudek said when authorities came to the scene they saw that Sanchez-Orellana had been hit in the head with a hard object, most likely a rock, several times. The cause of her death was massive head trauma, not injuries from the fire, he said.

Dudek said Sanchez-Orellana was a native of El Salvador but had been living on 38th Avenue in Oakland with her husband, their two young children and her husband’s cousin.

He said Sanchez-Orellana, who was 24 when she died, worked as a housecleaner in Oakland and Berkeley.

Dudek said when she died authorities found a gold ring on her left middle finger with the initials “O.M.O.” engraved on the inside.

He said investigators later learned that there’s a tradition in El Salvador in which the husband’s initials are engraved on the wife’s wedding ring and the wife’s initials are engraved on the husband’s ring.

Investigators then determined that the initials “O.M.O” therefore were those of Sanchez-Orellana’s husband, Oscar M. Orellana, according to Dudek.

Dudek said there aren’t any suspects in the case, but Oscar Orellana is a person of interest, in part because he never reported that his wife was missing.

Dudek said it’s also troubling that Oscar Orellana told the couple’s children that Sanchez-Orellana “may have left for unknown reasons and had abandoned them.”

Dudek said Orellana “is not a suspect at this point and will continue to be interviewed if he cooperates.”

He said another person investigators want to talk to is Israel Zelaya, another native of El Salvador who lived in the Bay Area at the time and was a friend of both Sanchez-Orellana and her husband.

Dudek said Zelaya is not a suspect but investigators want to talk to him because if he and Sanchez-Orellana “had more than a friendship and that could have triggered this.”

DNA evidence finally determined Sanchez-Orellana’s identity, Dudek said.

Nitrogen Leak Continues to Close First St.

San Jose fire officials Thursday night left the scene of a nitrogen gas leak that occurred early in the morning when a pipe was accidentally drilled into.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews responded to a natural gas leak in a T-shaped pipe beneath the intersection of Tasman Drive and North First Street at about 12:30 a.m., and one of the workers using a hand drill accidentally punctured a 2- to 3-inch hole in a nitrogen gas pipe owned by Air Products & Chemicals Inc., according to the fire department.

The worker immediately plugged the piece of pipe back into the hole, but the nitrogen began to seep out, San Jose fire Capt. Steve Alvarado said. People in the area were not affected.

Nitrogen gas is not flammable or toxic but can cause asphyxiation, according to San Jose fire Capt. Barry Stallard. “We breathe it in the air … just in tiny, tiny quantities,” he said.

“As long as we’re outside and we have a bit of a wind, what little there is is going to go up into the air and dissipate,” Alvarado said.

Police and firefighters cleared the scene shortly before midnight Thursday, a fire dispatcher said.

Police Link At Least 10 Identity Thefts to Gas Station

The number of victims who had their debit card information stolen while using an Arco gas station in South San Jose has risen to as high as 80, a San Jose Police Department spokesman said Thursday.

The total amount taken by the thieves stands at approximately $45,000 but is rising as new victims come forward, San Jose police Sgt. Mike Sullivan said.

Investigators have also linked the case to an earlier spate of identity thefts that occurred at an Arco station in Los Altos in March by comparing surveillance photos from automated teller machines.

“We believe that the crews are one and the same,” Sullivan said.

The San Jose Arco station is located on Camden Avenue. The Los Altos station is located at the corner of San Antonio Road and Loucks Avenue.

After the thieves stole victims’ debit card information and personal identification numbers using an easily concealed device attached to the gas station’s payment machine they made unauthorized withdrawals on the accounts at ATM machines throughout the South Bay and Peninsula, according to police.

City Council Passes Ordinance to Prohibit Smoking on City Property

For the first time in the history of Hayward, smoking is not allowed on streets or sidewalks, and most residents are breathing a healthy sigh of relief, assistant city manager Fran David said Thursday.

The city council voted 5-2 Tuesday to pass an ordinance that prohibits smoking cigarettes in all public places owned, controlled or leased by the city of Hayward, according to David.

Those places include public parks and recreation areas, such as the plaza in front of City Hall, David said.

“So far we’ve had an overwhelming display of support from both our businesses and our residences,” David said. The city reportedly has been receiving calls and e-mails since the ordinance passed from residents who appreciate the ban.

The ordinance goes into effect 30 days from the council’s vote, David said.

Family of Jail Inmate Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The family of a Sonoma County jail inmate who suffered from sickle cell anemia has filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against the county, a forensic medical group and the Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.

The complaint, which outlines 19 causes of action, alleges 22-year-old Ryan Kelsey George died in the jail on July 9 after he repeatedly was denied adequate medical care and suffered inhumane conditions of confinement.

Sonoma County Deputy Counsel Tambra Curtis said the county has not seen the complaint and is unable to respond to it.

The complaint states George advised jail officials he suffered from sickle cell anemia when he was taken into custody on May 31, 2007.

He reported the onset of a painful sickle cell crisis on June 28 but was not taken to the Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa until July 1 despite entreaties from his family members that he receive immediate medical care in a hospital, preferably the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa where he had previously been treated, according to the complaint.

George received inadequate medical care at Sutter Hospital, was not transferred to the Kaiser facility as a Sutter Hospital physician advised and was taken back to the county jail on July 3, the complaint states.

George was neglected by jail officials and his health deteriorated “to the point where he was lying naked, alone on a rubber bed sheet without proper medical care or assistance” until he died alone in his cell on July 9, the complaint states.

An autopsy in Sonoma County by the California Forensic Medical Group disclosed micro-clotting in George’s lungs and acute chest syndrome but no evidence of trauma.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department said at the time of George’s death that George’s medical status had been monitored at least twice an hour before he was found unresponsive in his cell on July 9.

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office investigated George’s death and submitted its report to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office on Nov. 15, Chief Deputy District Attorney Spencer Brady said.

Mercury Not Found in Drinking Water

Drinking water in the Las Lomas area of Monterey County does not contain mercury, the California Water Service Co. confirmed Thursday.

Residents should continue to avoid drinking the water, however, until extensive testing is completed and Cal Water and the California Department of Public Health verify the water is safe to drink, according to Cal Water.

The water was believed to contain mercury because two locks on the storage tank were found broken Saturday and initial testing results following the vandalism showed traces of mercury in the drinking water, which services between 2,000 and 3,000 residents, Monterey County sheriff’s Sgt. Archie Warren said.

Those residents were told to stop drinking the water and are being reimbursed for all bottled water purchased and used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth since the initial results came back Sunday, according to Cal Water spokeswoman Shannon Dean.

Tap water may be used for showering, bathing, washing, watering plants and other household uses, Dean said.

The initial results that tested positive for mercury were taken by Monterey Bay Analytical Services, a state-certified company.

Cal Water subsequently tested the water and determined there is no presence of mercury. Extensive testing to ensure there are no other problems with the water is expected to be completed in about a week, according to Dean.

The vandalism at the storage tank was discovered Saturday and the sheriff’s office has launched an investigation even though it was not certain whether the water was tampered with, according to Warren.

“There was no evidence to show that anything was actually placed in the water other than the tank was vandalized,” Warren said.

The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information regarding the vandalism to call the tip line at (888) 833-4847.

Man Gunned Down in Broad Daylight

Richmond homicide detectives are investigating a fatal drive-by shooting that occurred Thursday afternoon in the city’s Iron Triangle neighborhood, Sgt. Bisa French said.

The shooting was reported at 12:42 p.m. in the 400 block of A Street.

Officers found the victim, who is believed to be a man in his 20s, lying in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, French said.

Homicide detectives only have a limited description of the suspects. They are described only as two black males, one with dreadlocks, driving a black vehicle.

The homicide is the first to occur this year in the city’s Central District, also known as the Iron Triangle, an area that has historically been notorious for street violence, French said.

The shooting appears to be unrelated to a nonfatal drive-by shooting that occurred about 12 hours earlier and about seven blocks away, also in the Iron Triangle.

That shooting was reported at 12:50 a.m. near the intersection of Fifth Street and Ripley Avenue.

The victim, a 43-year-old San Francisco man, was found sitting in his car suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his torso and legs, but is expected to survive.

The victim told investigators that he was waiting for a friend when he was shot, but reportedly declined to identify the friend or give any description of the shooter or the shooter’s vehicle.

“He was less than forthcoming with information about why he was there and what was going on,” French said.

Police Announce Arrest of Suspect in May 21 Shooting

San Jose police Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect in the May 21 shooting death of San Jose resident Lorenzo Torres.

Paul Hilarion Flores, 25, was arrested earlier Thursday and is currently in custody in Santa Clara County Jail. The motive for the shooting appears to be gang-related, according to San Jose Police Department spokesman Jermaine Thomas.

Torres, 26, was killed and another man was wounded in the shooting that occurred near the intersection of Almaden Avenue and Union Street at approximately 1:45 p.m. on May 21.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Sgt. Mike Knox or Sgt. John Seaman at (408) 277-5283. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP.

29-Year-Old Man Victim of Fatal Shooting

A 29-year-old man shot to death late Wednesday night in Berkeley was the city’s seventh homicide victim this year, the Police Department announced Thursday.

Officers responded to reports of shots fired in the area of Tyler and California streets shortly after 11:30 p.m., police said.

The man was found on the sidewalk and with gunshot wounds, according to police.

Emergency personnel transported the man to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, police said.

Anyone with information regarding the homicide is asked to call the Berkeley Police Department at (510) 981-5741 or (510) 981-5900.