Jul 3, 2008

Residents give officials an earful

Highlands neighborhood demands answers on murder suspect's escape

By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

Two supervisors and other top San Mateo County officials got a tongue-lashing from irate residents at a meeting Wednesday night about the escape of a 17-year-old murder suspect from a nearby juvenile lockup center.

More than 100 residents from unincorporated San Mateo Highlands packed a stuffy gym about a half-mile from the Youth Services Center, which Josue Raul Orozco escaped from on Feb. 14, and were clearly still fired up about the incident.

While Supervisors Adrienne Tissier and Mark Church described recommended changes from an independent probe of the breakout, residents grew impatient and wanted hard answers on how future escapes would be prevented.

"Either you fix the problems that made this occur, or shut it down," said resident David Solomon to a loud cheer from the crowd.

Investigators said Orozco used a boost from two other inmates and a misplaced lamp to scale the wall of an outside recreation area. Orozco, who at age 14 was the youngest adult in county history to be charged with murder, has not been found.

County officials from the probation department and sheriff's office admitted many mistakes were made and pledged to fix them, though residents were skeptical as to how the suggestions - including more staff, taller fences and more cameras and sensors - would be paid for and how long it would take to implement them.

Church said supervisors would meet to consider how to work them into the budget in the coming weeks.

Officials also tried to explain what went wrong. Former Sheriff Don Horsley, who helped prepare an independent 18-page report on the incident, said two employees were not watching the juveniles as they were supposed to and confusion among staff after the escape compounded the situation.

A resident wanted to know why it took sheriff's deputies 55 minutes to arrive at the facility from the time a supervisor at the center reported the escape to the county dispatch center.

"I think had they said he was charged with homicide, we would have had a much different response from the sheriff's office," Horsley said. "The sense of urgency was not conveyed."

County officials got an earful as they assured residents that they had come to listen to their concerns. At times, the meeting broke down into shouting and raw frustration.

One man said Chief Probation Officer Loren Buddress told residents before the youth center was built that violent criminals would not be held there.

"Mr. Buddress stood up there and lied to us!" he shouted. "You lied to us, Mr. Buddress!"

Buddress said that increased gang activity meant that more young violent criminals have flooded the system in recent years. Plus, state law requires prisoners under 17 to be housed in a juvenile facility, unless they can be completely isolated in an adult jail, which would not be possible in the county's overcrowded men's facility.

That wasn't enough for some residents who wanted a commitment that no more suspected murderers would be sent there. Judge Mark Forcum said he would discuss with his colleagues some possible solutions.

Residents said they would expect a report back on the changes once they happen.

"It's pretty clear this is an example of Murphy's Law," said Barry Krisberg, another consultant that prepared the report. "Everything that could go wrong did go wrong."


E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.