BART protestors, now numbering about two dozen, demonstrate again

About two-dozen anti-BART protesters marched along San Francisco’s Market Street Monday evening in the fifth consecutive Monday rush-hour demonstration organized by the hacker group “Anonymous.”

The marchers were protesting the fatal BART police shooting of

Charles Hill and the decision by BART to disrupt cellphone service to thwart an Aug. 11 protest that was planned in response to the shooting.

BART service was not affected by Monday night’s protest, unlike

previous protests that have shut down stations. A demonstration last Thursday organized by the group “No Justice, No BART” resulted in 25 arrests and the closure of the Powell Street station.

Hill, 45, was fatally shot on the platform of the Civic Center

BART station by BART police on July 3 after he allegedly wielded knives and a broken bottle as weapons during a confrontation with two officers.

Since then, protests by Anonymous and No Justice, No BART have become a weekly event. Anonymous’ Twitter page contained instructions for protesters Monday.

A BART spokesman has defended the agency’s decision to disrupt cellphone service, saying the action was in part a safety measure to prevent potential “chaos” on train platforms.

++

More news from around the Bay by Bay City News

++

An autopsy of two bodies found burning in a home in Oakland early

Sunday morning has revealed that the victims suffered multiple stab wounds

before the fire started, police said.

Oakland firefighters responded to a fire at a two-story building

in the 3100 block of Coolidge Avenue at around 1 a.m.

Fire crews found the bodies of a male and a female burning inside

a residential unit on the second floor and contacted the Police Department,

according to police.

Police said the case is being investigated as a homicide and that

investigators believe the fire was started to cover up the crime.

-0-

A San Francisco man who fraudulently posed as a dermatologist with

ties to prestigious Bay Area schools was sentenced Monday to six years in

state prison.

Timothy Syed Andersson, 68, also known as “Dr. Syed,” pleaded

guilty in San Francisco Superior Court in June to 64 counts, including

practicing medicine without a license, grand theft, perjury and forgery.

Andersson told patients and other victims that he worked at

University of California at San Francisco and Stanford University and often

saw them at his home office in San Francisco’s Sunset District.

There were 30 medical victims identified in the case, who were

injected with various unknown substances or were sold creams that Andersson

falsely said were specially formulated for them at UCSF and Stanford, and

charged substantial sums for the procedures, prosecutors said.

He also falsely told other victims they had cancer, including a

2-year-old, who was given two injections of interferon, which caused a severe

reaction that led to the child’s fingernails falling out.

Andersson, who emigrated to the U.S. from Sweden but is originally

from Pakistan, was charged with perjury because of a signed affidavit that

said he earned an M.D. in Sweden and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the United

Kingdom.

Judge James Collins Monday sentenced Andersson to six years in

state prison, although with credit for time served — he has been in county

jail since his arrest early last year — he will likely be out of prison

within the next couple of years.

Andersson’s case will return to court on Oct. 6 to set a date for

a restitution hearing.

-0-

The suspected gunman and the suspected driver in the drive-by

shooting death of 3-year-old Carlos Nava in East Oakland on Aug. 8 both

pleaded not guilty Monday to one count of murder and two counts of attempted

murder.

Lawrence Denard, 26, the suspected shooter, and 22-year-old Willie

Torrence, the suspected driver, both of Oakland, are scheduled to return to

Alameda County Superior Court on Oct. 17 for a pretrial hearing.

Oakland police said they believe the shooting in the 6400 block of

International Boulevard at about 1:10 p.m. on Aug. 8 was gang-related and

that Denard’s intended targets were two adult males who were wounded but

survived.

They said Carlos and his family, who were shopping at the time,

had no connection to the two male adult victims.

Denard was arrested in Pittsburg on Aug. 9. He has prior

convictions for grand theft and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Torrence was arrested in Las Vegas on Aug. 12 and was extradited

to Alameda County two weeks ago.

Torrence was on parole for violating his probation for a previous

conviction on illegal gun charges.

-0-

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will hold a workshop

this afternoon to discuss plans for constructing a new maximum-security jail

in Redwood City.

The board is holding the workshop as an informal study session to

talk about various aspects of planning for a new jail, including the number

of inmates it will hold, how to pay for it, and how the state’s realignment

plan could affect the scope of the project, according to the head of the

sheriff’s jail planning unit.

Sheriff Greg Munks will present the board with various options for

a new jail, which is slated to be built on a 4-acre site on Chemical Way in

Redwood City, Bazan said.

The current jail is overcrowded, according to county officials,

with nearly 1,000 inmates being accommodated in facilities built for less

than 700.

San Mateo County will be further impacted by the state’s

realignment plan, which will require that some nonviolent prisoners who would

have been sent to state prisons be housed instead in county jails.

-0-

Two suspected gang members pleaded not guilty Monday to special

circumstances murder charges for allegedly brutally beating a 21-year-old

Union City woman to death two months ago and then dumping her body in an

upscale Oakland neighborhood and setting it on fire.

Authorities have declined to disclose the suspected motive for the

murder of Monica Rodas, who was the mother of a 2-year-old boy, but said

suspects Salvador Valasco, 22, and Hector Garcia, 31, apparently were upset

with her about something and wanted to send a message to the community not to

mess with them.

Rodas’ body was found at about 4:40 a.m. on July 14 in the 5800

block of Ivanhoe Road in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, near a state

Highway 24 off-ramp.

Valasco and Garcia are both charged with committing a murder

during the course of a kidnapping, desecrating human remains and evading

police officers.

Garcia is also charged with two counts of possession of a firearm

by a convicted felon and of having six prior felony convictions, an

allegation that could add to his prison sentence if he is convicted.

His prior convictions include evading an officer, possession of a

firearm by a felon, receiving stolen property, car theft and possession of a

controlled substance.

The special circumstances allegations mean that Valasco and Garcia

could face the death penalty if they are convicted.

But prosecutors won’t make a decision on seeking the death penalty

until after their preliminary hearing, which will determine if there’s enough

evidence to have them stand trial. That hearing won’t take place until late

this year or early next year.

Valasco and Garcia are scheduled to return to Alameda County

Superior Court on Nov. 14 for a pretrial hearing.

-0-

Police are searching for two men who bound and beat an elderly

couple during a home-invasion robbery in Pinole early Sunday morning, police

said.

The two suspects, described by police only as two white men

possibly in their 40s, reportedly tricked the victims, a 72-year-old woman

and a 75-year-old man, into letting them inside their home at about 1:30 a.m.

Sunday.

Once inside, the men taped up the woman and then beat the man

until he agreed to open his safe, police said.

The men then stole several items, including guns, from the safe

before fleeing in the victim’s gray 2008 Honda Accord, which has a license

plate number of 6BOF304.

The male victim was transported to a hospital, where he was being

treated for bruises, cuts and a serious head wound. He is expected to

recover, police said.

-0-

A 25-year-old man was seriously injured when he was struck by a

Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police patrol car on state Highway 9 Monday morning.

Police spokesman Sgt. Kerry Harris said a motorist called police

at 5:43 a.m. to report seeing a person lying on the side of the roadway west

of Highway 17.

An officer responded and was using a spotlight to search for the

person in the eastbound lanes while he was driving west on Highway 9, Harris

said.

That is when he saw a man walk into the roadway from the north

side of the street, but he could not stop his car in time, and hit the

person, according to Harris.

The man was transported to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Harris said the man, a Los Gatos resident, appeared to be

intoxicated, but was conscious and communicating with staff at the hospital.

He did not know the man’s condition or the extent of his injuries.

There is no crosswalk in that area, and police have not yet

determined what the man was doing in the roadway, Harris said.

Officers believe he is the same man who was reportedly lying in

the roadway, as they found no one else in the area, Harris said.

Per department protocol, anytime a Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police

car is involved in an injury accident, the CHP is asked to investigate the

accident.

-0-

A man was convicted Monday of two counts of first-degree murder

and multiple murder for killing two men in a gang-related shooting in

Berkeley three years ago.

Prosecutor Jim Meehan said Desmen Lankford, 27, is “a remorseless

killer” who belonged to a north Oakland gang that had been involved in a

shooting war with a South Berkeley gang and said the shooting was one of the

most cold-blooded cases he’s handled in his long career.

Lankford, who looked straight ahead and showed no emotion, was

convicted of murdering Kelvin Earl Davis, 23, of Berkeley, and Kevin Antoine

Parker, 42, of Oakland, in front of a small apartment complex at 1436 Derby

St. in Berkeley about 12:15 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2008.

The jury’s finding that he committed multiple murders means that

he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he’s sentenced

by Alameda County Judge Joan Cartwright on Nov. 10.

Authorities believe that a second man helped Lankford and also

fired shots but that suspect was never arrested or charged, Meehan said. He

said the investigation remains open.

Davis and Parker both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Meehan said Lankford was arrested after police searched an Oakland

apartment where authorities believe he lived and found a gun that was used in

the shooting as well as bullets similar to those used in the shooting.

Police also found a hooded sweatshirt with a skeleton design that

a witness said the shooting suspect wore, Meehan said.

In addition, police found a camera that had a photo of Lankford

proudly holding two guns, including one similar to the SIG Sauer

semi-automatic pistol used in the shooting, Meehan said.

-0-

The San Francisco Bay Area is expected to be mostly cloudy this

morning before becoming partly cloudy, with patches of fog in the morning.

Highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s are anticipated.

Partly cloudy skies are likely this evening, before becoming

mostly cloudy tonight with patchy fog after midnight. Lows in the mid 50s are

expected.

Wednesday is expected to be mostly cloudy with patchy fog in the

morning before becoming mostly sunny later in the day. Highs in the upper 50s

to mid 60s are likely.

Erika Heidecker, Bay City News

Erika Heidecker, Bay City News