S THE SPECTRUM News Briefs 24 PRETRIAL CONFERENCE IN TONGAN FATAL CRASH CASE RESET <strong>The</strong> pretrial conference for Edith Delgado, an 18-year-old <strong>Redwood</strong> City woman accused of causing a highway car crash that killed three people, including two members of the Tongan royal family, was delayed in San Mateo County Superior Court. Due to a schedule conflict with defense attorney Randolph Moore, the conference was postponed one week, prosecutor Aaron Fitzgerald said today. Fitzgerald declined to comment about whether a plea bargain had been offered by the district attorney’s office. Delgado has pleaded not guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for her alleged role in a July 5 crash on U.S. Highway 101 in Menlo Park that killed Tonga’s Prince Tu’ipelehake, 54, Princess Kaimana Tu’ipelehake, 45, and their driver, Vinisia Hefa, 36. Delgado allegedly was speeding north of Willow Road around 9 p.m. when her Ford Mustang hit Hefa’s Ford Explorer carrying the royal couple, causing it to roll several times and land on its roof, according to the California Highway Patrol. At a preliminary hearing on Sept. 20, Judge Robert Foiles ruled that there was sufficient evidence for Delgado to stand trial, saying that there was “reasonable cause” to find that a crime had been committed. On Oct. 31, a motion was granted to allow the trial to be set back more than two months to allow Moore time to seek the testimony of an expert in accident reconstruction. Delgado’s jury trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 13 at 8:45 a.m., according to the district attorney’s office. If convicted of all the charges she is facing, Delgado could spend a maximum of eight years in prison, according to San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Delgado remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail. An appeals court earlier reduced bail after it was originally set at $3 million. PLEA DEAL REACHED IN REDWOOD CITY NEWBORN ABANDONMENT CASE A 30-year-old <strong>Redwood</strong> City woman accused of abandoning her newborn girl, who was later found dead in a Dumpster in November 2005, accepted a plea bargain with prosecutors in San Mateo County Superior Court, agreeing to plead no contest to felony child endangerment. Hilda Figueroa faced charges of felony child endangerment and involuntary manslaughter, and could have received a maximum of six years in prison if convicted of those charges. However, under the terms of the agreement, Figueroa will now be subject to a maximum of one year in jail when she is sentenced in January. On Nov. 30, 2005, <strong>Redwood</strong> City police officers found the child wrapped in plastic bags in the trash at Figueroa’s apartment building in the 600 block of Buckeye Street. A medical examiner later determined the child had been born some time on Nov. 29, approximately 16 to 20 hours before she was found by police, according to prosecutor Eric Hove. Figueroa was arrested the same day after she sought treatment at the San Mateo Medical Center, telling medical workers she had delivered a premature, stillborn fetus at home and flushed it down the toilet. After a routine medical examination, the hospital contacted the <strong>Redwood</strong> City Police Department with information that Figueroa had given birth to a full-term child, according to police. With no signs of trauma or intentional injury, a coroner’s toxicology report showed that the baby might have died from a placental infection. According to Hove, the medical examiner determined that the child had breathed on its own for a short time after the birth. Hove said that according to doctors, this kind of infection can normally be treated, but because the child was not found until hours later, it had little chance of survival. Hove said that Figueroa’s plea was based on her failure to provide or get help for the child when it was born. “I think the plea reflected the nature of the medical evidence in the case,” Hove said. “What she did was the unthinkable. She turned her back on a living child when she was born.” In addition to a possible one-year county jail sentence, Figueroa will receive four years probation and mandatory child abuse counseling for one year. Her sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 24 at 9 a.m. MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SMUGGLING USING EASTER EGG RUSE A <strong>Redwood</strong> City man who in 2005 disguised the eggs of federally protected eagle owls as Easter eggs in order to smuggle them into the United States has pleaded guilty to four felonies in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the U.S. Department of Justice reported . Jeffrey Diaz was arrested by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his home in March after being charged with two felony counts of smuggling live eagle owl eggs, as well as two felony counts of making false statements to federal agents, according to U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Luke Macaulay. According to an investigation conducted by the two federal agencies, along with the California Department of Fish and Game, during both the Christian and Orthodox Easter holidays in March and April 2005, Diaz brought eagle owl eggs, painted with Easter decorations and carried in an Easter basket, from Austria into the United States. <strong>The</strong> eggs were kept incubated during the trip with the plastic grass and hand warmers that lined the Easter basket, according to investigators. Three of the eggs later hatched and the eagle owlets are now being cared for by local wildlife centers, Macaulay said. Eagle owls are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. No sentencing date has yet been set for Diaz, who could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each felony charge, Macaulay said. HIGH-SPEED PURSUIT LEADS TO FOOT PURSUIT IN REDWOOD CITY <strong>The</strong> California Highway Patrol reports that a high-speed pursuit ended when two suspects fled from their vehicle after crashing in <strong>Redwood</strong> City. According to the CHP, the pursuit began on northbound U.S. Highway 101, just south of Marsh Street in Menlo Park, when authorities attempted to stop a driver for alleged drunken driving. <strong>The</strong> pursuit ensued along the Bayshore Freeway and proceeded into <strong>Redwood</strong> City via Woodside Road before the vehicle crashed at Woodside and Middlefield roads, CHP Officer Hendrix said. <strong>The</strong> two suspects attempted to flee the accident site but were quickly apprehended by CHP officers, Hendrix said. Both suspects sustained minor injuries and were taken into custody, Hendrix said. 49ER BRYANT CHARGED WITH RECKLESS DRIVING, DUI, RESISTING ARREST San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Antonio Bryant was arrested on charges of reckless driving, driving under the influence and resisting arrest after San Mateo police officers pulled him over for allegedly speeding on U.S. Highway 101, San Mateo police Capt. Kevin Raffaelli said. According to police, a San Mateo police officer entering northbound U.S. Highway 101 near Whipple Avenue in <strong>Redwood</strong> City saw a 2005 Lamborghini speed past him “at well over 100 miles per hour,” Raffaelli said. <strong>The</strong> officer tried to catch up to the Lamborghini but could not and radioed ahead, Raffaelli said. Bryant yielded to other San Mateo police officers further ahead and pulled over near the Kehoe offramp from U.S. Highway 101 in San Mateo, according to Raffaelli. When an officer noticed Bryant displayed “signs consistent with the use of alcoholic beverages,” he asked Bryant to step away from the car, but Bryant refused and became “extremely verbally abusive towards the officers,” Raffaelli said. Officers then placed Bryant under arrest for reckless driving, and as they removed him from his car, he became combative and had to be restrained, according to Raffaelli. Bryant was eventually taken to the county jail in <strong>Redwood</strong> City, where he continued to refuse to cooperate with officers, Raffaelli said. He was booked on reckless driving, driving under the influence and resisting arrest charges. According to the San Francisco 49ers media office, a statement on the arrest was not immediately available. REDWOOD CITY STUDENTS TO BE TESTED AFTER DANGEROUS LAB EXPERIMENT A substitute science teacher at <strong>Redwood</strong> City’s Kennedy Middle School was fired after allowing several seventh-grade students to share the same instrument to draw blood during an experiment, potentially putting them at risk for blood-borne illnesses, school principal Warren Sedar said. According to Sedar, the teacher was conducting a science experiment to study cells and had about 20 students volunteer to have their fingers pricked to test their blood, using lancets similar to those a diabetic would use to test blood sugar. While being supervised by the teacher, some of the students shared the same lancets to draw blood, Sedar said. Sedar identified these students and contacted their parents as well as the San Mateo County Health Department, he said. Health Department spokeswoman Doris Estrema confirmed that the department was contacted after the incident, and said that the students are being advised to be tested for possible exposure to blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B and C and HIV. According to Estrema, San Mateo County has a very low percentage of cases of hepatitis B and C and HIV in this age group and thus a low probability that these viruses could have been transmitted, but the Health Department is treating the incident very seriously. “It is of concern to us and we have been working with the school to make sure the proper steps have been taken,” Estrema said. Sedar said he will meet with physicians from the Health Department to help answer parents’ questions about the possible risks to students, and blood testing by Health Department officials will be available for students at the school. In addition, he said, the school will reimburse parents who wish to have the students tested by private physicians. According to Sedar, there is already a school policy against this type of experiment and the school will now review all lab experiments and make sure safety in labs is approved when a substitute teacher is involved. Studying cells can be done using a toothpick to swab the inside of a cheek, he said, and there will be no more blood-related experiments conducted at the school, he said. According to Sedar, the substitute teacher was released immediately after and because of this incident. WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.NET
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