Illegal teen's arrest stirs sanctuary law fight
Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

Monday, January 18, 2010


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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' new sanctuary law - intended to block the city from alerting the feds to young illegal immigrant criminal suspects who haven't been convicted - has come into focus again with the arrest of an undocumented 15-year-old in a double slaying at a Mission District pizzeria.


The youth - a native of Mexico who attends John O'Connell High School - is one of three suspects in the Sept. 20 killings at Papa Potrero's Pizza on 24th Street. Police say the boy helped hold the victims down while they were shot in an apparent act of revenge for an earlier gang slaying.

He's been charged as a juvenile with murder, and now the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has slapped a hold on him - meaning someone with the city let the feds know about him.

Under the revised sanctuary ordinance passed by the supervisors in November, however, the boy shouldn't have been handed to ICE unless he had been convicted - which he hasn't been.

Mayor Gavin Newsom is refusing to enforce the change and has ordered that ICE be notified whenever illegal immigrant juvenile suspects are arrested. That means they could be deported without a conviction.

Mayoral spokesman Tony Winnicker called the 15-year-old's case a clear example of why the mayor is bucking the board, and that his intent is to "keep kids like this off the street and out of our schools."

Supervisor David Campos, the ordinance's author, stands by the board's change and doesn't think ICE should have been told about the slayings suspect.

"I feel more comfortable with a judge who has all the history and facts making the call, rather than the police making it on the spot," Campos said.

The youth's arrest has also created a bit of a stir between police and the principal at O'Connell High.

The principal was upset that no one gave him a heads up that the boy - who had been sent home for being drunk the day before - was being called out of class, cuffed and taken into custody.

Sign of the times: Robert Beadles' campaign for Congress got off to a bad start - with the candidate wearing handcuffs.

Beadles, 32, of Lodi, is a onetime welfare recipient who made a small fortune with a roadwork sign business and real estate investments. He jumped into the primary recently for the 11th District seat, representing the far East Bay and part of Central Valley, with the goal of beating five fellow Republicans for the right to face Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton.

But no sooner had Beadles placed a big deposit into his campaign account than troubles erupted.

Early Jan. 4, more than three dozen officers from the San Joaquin County sheriff's office and California Highway Patrol swooped down on his home and business, armed with search warrants and looking for signs and equipment that a business rival said had been stolen from him.

"People told me you'd be attacked (in this campaign), but I didn't expect to be the victim of 40 officers ransacking my house and business and rifling through my wife's underwear drawer," Beadles told us.

In all, police confiscated 333 road signs and various pieces of equipment, along with 10 computers.

Beadles was handcuffed and driven to his office, where he was left in the back seat of a squad car for an hour until local news teams showed up to photograph him.

His gleeful business competitor, Gary Anderson, who had accused Beadles in the first place, wasted no time notifying rival congressional campaigns of the bust via e-mail, Beadles said.

Anderson did not return our call seeking comment.

After hours of questioning, however, Beadles - who does most of his work for Caltrans - was released without charges being filed.

Beadles later produced receipts for most of the signs and they were returned to him, along with a letter from Caltrans brass apologizing for the "inconvenience."

Beadles suspects the investigation is politically motivated. He points out that San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore has endorsed Republican candidate Brad Goehring.

Moore said nothing could be further from the truth.

"I have never met Mr. Beadles, and was not aware he was a candidate for any office until after the search warrant was served," he said.

As for Beadles, he's still in the race.

"I can't quit," Beadles said. "What kind of message does that send my kids?"

Got a tip? e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com




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