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News Briefs
Escapee Kills Redwood City
Resident
A 16-year-old who walked away
from a juvenile detention camp in
San Mateo County was arrested on
suspicion of fatally stabbing a 23-
year-old in Redwood City.
Adrian Sedano, 16, a resident of unincorporated
San Mateo County, and Christian Lopez, 16, were
arrested at approximately 4 a.m. after killing a
23-year-old outside an apartment complex at
551 Geneva Ave. in Redwood City. Both were
arraigned as adults on murder charges.
Sedano is allegedly a recent walk-away from
Camp Glenwood, a San Mateo County honor
camp in La Honda. Law enforcement officials
would not release details of his walk-away or the
crimes that put him there because laws prohibit
disclosure of juvenile criminal records.
This is the second case this year in which
a juvenile escaped from a San Mateo County
detention facility. In February, 17-year-old Josue
Orozco escaped from the San Mateo County
Juvenile Hall, where he was awaiting a murder trial.
Law enforcement was already looking for
Sedano when the incident occurred.
The fight allegedly started between a group
of girls at the 7-Eleven at the corner of Hess
and Woodside roads in Redwood City. The fight
continued to spark up during the evening and
resulted in Sedano, Lopez and the 23-year-old
getting into an altercation in front of the apartment
on Geneva Avenue. Police quickly obtained a
search warrant for one of the apartments. Inside,
police found Sedano and Lopez arguing with two
girls from the earlier fight, said Redwood City
police Sgt. Sean Hart.
A history of run-ins made Sedano a familiar
face to law enforcement. His previous arrests most
recently put him in Camp Glenwood.
Camp Glenwood is a dorm-like facility that
houses up to 62 wards who would otherwise be
shipped off to state facilities for their crimes.
Wards are usually serving sentences for minor
crimes like substance abuse, petty theft or lowlevel
burglaries and “can’t work well” in their
normal environment. They are not there for assault
or battery convictions, said Jim Nordman, deputy
chief of institutions for the San Mateo County
Probation Department.
Sentencing to Camp Glenwood is at the
discretion of the San Mateo County judge
overseeing the juvenile’s case, said Chief Deputy
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
There is no indication what judge sentenced
Sedano to Camp Glenwood.
The camp has one probation employee per 15
wards in addition to other administrative and
service employees, Nordman said.
The low-security camp is located in La Honda
west of Skyline Boulevard and was originally run
as a summer camp. Wards awake every morning to
a series of chores and are placed under a structured
schedule during the day. With good behavior,
wards earn weekend passes home, Nordman said.
However, it is not unusual to have a youth walk
away without permission, Nordman said.
Nordman could not say how often youth walk
away. However, many are caught.
“It’s fairly remote. There is only really one
road to civilization — either over the hill or to the
coast,” Nordman said. “You either have to walk,
hitchhike or have someone pick you up.”
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is
notified when a ward walks away from one of the
two San Mateo County honor camps.
The Sheriff’s Office was notified of such a
situation, said Lt. Ray Lunny.
More information was not available about that
notification, Lunny said.
It is unclear whether Sedano was the same
ward who escaped. Another unconfirmed report
indicated he left the camp in July.
Construction Worker Injured
in 101 Hit-and-Run
The California Highway Patrol is
reporting a hit-and-run collision on
northbound U.S. Highway 101 in
Redwood City that caused moderate
injuries to a construction worker.
According to CHP Officer Robert Haven, a
silver Dodge sedan struck the construction worker,
who was on the highway in an area just north of
the Whipple Avenue exit.
All lanes except for the No. 1 lane were closed
on the highway overnight due to construction,
Haven said. The vehicle apparently swerved
into the construction area and struck the victim,
according to the CHP.
The victim was transported to an area hospital
with moderate injuries, Haven said.
The vehicle that struck the victim is missing a
right side mirror, according to the CHP, which has
no further information about the vehicle.
Drive-By Driver Gets 40 to
Life Sentence
The 24-year-old Sureño convicted
of second-degree murder for
driving fellow gang members to
kill who they thought was a rival
Norteño in Redwood City received
40 years to life in prison.
Faustino Ayala received a sentence of 15 years
to life for the murder plus an additional 25-year
term for the use of a firearm in the 2005 death of
21-year-old Francisco Rodriguez. On June 23,
after a 19-day trial, jurors found Ayala guilty.
Ayala’s defense maintained he didn’t know a
passenger in his vehicle was carrying or planning
to use a firearm. The alleged actual shooter, Josue
Orozco, escaped from the Youth Services Center in
February while awaiting trial and remains at large.
On July 12, 2005, Rodriguez was working in
his carport at 475 Redwood Ave. with his family
just inside when the car driven by Ayala stopped.
A masked passenger in the back, Orozco, then 14,
stepped outside the car and allegedly fired a shot
into Rodriguez’s head while the man, slowed by a
deformed leg, limped away.
After Rodriguez’s shooting, the men stashed
the guns in East Palo Alto but were arrested
within the next day. Prosecutors charged Orozco
as an adult, making him the youngest murder
defendant charged as such in county history. The
three juveniles involved — Edgar Alvarez, 17,
Juan Orozco, 16, and Daniel Vargas, 17 — were
convicted of first-degree murder in March 2007
and sentenced that fall to incarceration at the
former California Youth Authority.
During Ayala’s trial, prosecutor Josh Stauffer
told jurors he had to sanction the shooting as a
so-called made man in the gang and was well
aware of the purpose when the group headed
out. Ayala, according to Stauffer, drove by once,
circled the block and came back again slowly to
accommodate the shooting.
Rodriguez had been a Norteño but since left the
life in 2001 for marriage and family.
Defense attorney Vince O’Malley told jurors
Ayala was intoxicated and thought the gang
wanted a fight. He conceded knowing there was
a baseball bat in the car but was unaware of a
firearm, according to the defense.
Although he didn’t pull the trigger himself, he
was considered equally culpable under the law.
The defense called no witnesses and O’Malley
asked jurors to keep an open mind despite Ayala’s
admitted gang affiliation and prior record.
After Ayala’s arrest, he was also charged with
another crime while at the jail. He and convicted
murderer Brian Dean Hedlin, 26, were charged
with battery and assault for allegedly attacking a
correctional officer in the jail in April 2007. Ayala
won’t be transferred to San Quentin Prison until
after the completion of that trial.
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