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25 years since Deputy Monego’s death
Next week will mark 25 years since Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy John Monego was gunned down in the line of duty while responding to a robbery in progress at a restaurant in Dublin.
Dublin Police Services is holding the annual tree lighting that honors Monego at department headquarters on Clark Avenue this Saturday (Dec. 9) at 6 p.m., with light refreshments to follow the ceremony.
Monego, a 33-year-old married father of one, was a deputy assigned to DPS under the city-county contract at the time of his death.
He was the second officer to respond to the Outback Steakhouse on Regional Street that fateful night, investigating a 911 hangup that had actually occurred during a strong-arm robbery with hostages late at night on Dec. 11, 1998. The first deputy who arrived ahead of Monego went inside the restaurant to investigate but was overpowered by the robbers.
As Monego approached the front door, one robber opened fire through a glass window, striking the deputy in the chest just above his protective vest, according to the “Officer Down Memorial Page”, which honors and remembers law enforcement personnel killed in the line of duty. As Monego fell to the ground, the shooter walked outside and shot the deputy five more times at point-blank range.
Monego died at an area hospital just after midnight on Dec. 12, 1998.
The three culprits fled the scene but were later caught and ultimately convicted at trial.
Wiley files for judge
Retired prosecutor Terry Wiley, who lost the Alameda County district attorney election in November 2022 to Pamela Price, has filed for one of the open Alameda County Superior Court judgeships on the March 5 ballot.
Wiley, a longtime prosecutor in the office who reached the rank of chief deputy DA, was the in-house candidate to succeed retiring DA Nancy O’Malley, but his campaign failed to gain enough traction against the progressive platform of civil rights attorney Price, who won 53.15% to 46.85%.
After retiring from the DA’s office at some point after Price’s victory, Wiley has quietly launched a bid for a seat on the bench — he has no apparent campaign website and attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful. He has no opponents for the judgeship designated as No. 5 for the ballot; it is unclear at this point which current judge’s position is linked to that ballot number.
New ‘Chowchilla’ doc
CNN Films and the streaming platform Max released a new documentary film last Sunday re-examining the Chowchilla kidnappings that culminated in Livermore and shocked the country in 1976.
Three men seized a loaded school bus from the Central Valley town of Chowchilla and then abandoned the bus and kept the victims, taking the 26 children and their adult driver to a quarry in the Livermore Valley and burying them alive in a van while demanding a $5 million ransom.
The victims managed to dig their way out and escape, and the kidnappers were ultimately caught and convicted. The “Chowchilla” doc features a range of interviews with survivors and law enforcement, plus archival footage and other materials from the case.
