CA Juvie gang banger murderer escaped and headed for Mexico

Of course, once they do the crime here, they run home to their country.

Inmates charged with aiding San Mateo County Youth Services Center escapee
LOW-PLACED LIGHT PROVIDED HAND-HOLD
By Shaun Bishop Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 02/20/2008 01:35:24 AM PST

A halogen lamp placed too low on a 15-foot wall at the San Mateo County Youth Services Center gave a 17-year-old murder suspect a hand-hold to climb over the wall and escape, officials said Tuesday.
The search for Josue Raul Orozco, a Sureño gang member who may be headed for his birthplace of Mexico, stretched into a fifth day as two other inmates were charged with felonies for their alleged role in helping him escape.
Martin Villa Patino and Vanher Cho, both 18, could face seven years in prison if convicted of giving Orozco a boost up the security wall around the facility's recreation area around 7:15 p.m. last Thursday. Cho, of Burlingame, and Patino, of East Palo Alto, pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting an escape and engaging in felony conduct for gang purposes. The escape charge carries three years while the gang enhancement adds four, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. In addition to its internal investigation, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President Adrienne Tissier called for an independent investigation, with the board set to weigh in on the incident next week. Because of the extended time lag between the time an electronic alert was issued and an arrest warrant obtained, the probation department also plans to change its process so both can be secured at the same time. Chief Probation Officer Loren Buddress said the department is also looking into how it would notify neighbors if a similar situation occurs again. Buddress said a probation officer is supposed to be able to see juvenile offenders at all times, though the internal investigation has not yet revealed whether a probation officer was in the recreation yard when the escape happened. Sheriff's officials said that although they believe Orozco has left San Mateo County, they are still following local leads. The 15-foot wall - 9 feet of brick under 6 feet of "no-climb mesh fencing" - was built to state codes that require a 14-foot barrier, Buddress said. But a light for the basketball courts had been placed 12 feet up the wall instead of at the top, giving Orozco a hand-hold that allowed him to climb over with help from Cho and Patino, Buddress said. Orozco then climbed through a 3-foot hole that had been cut in a second barrier - a 15-foot chain-link fence - likely by an accomplice, officials said. The area where Orozco jumped the wall has been closed until an internal review is complete, Buddress said. Superior Court Commissioner Kathleen M. McKenna set bail for Cho and Patino at $200,000 after Deputy District Attorney Joseph Cannon requested it be raised from $50,000.
Patino is also a known Sureño, Cannon said, though he would not comment on whether Cho had any affiliation. Cannon also declined to discuss why the two were being held in the youth center. But he told McKenna that Patino is serving a sentence that could expire before the escape charges are decided. He also said Cho's juvenile case is still pending. The teens were transported to the maximum-security men's jail on Friday, said Sheriff's Lt. Mark Alcantara. County supervisors and the county's supervising juvenile court judge have questioned why an arrest warrant was not issued until 6 1/2 hours after Orozco was believed to have escaped.
But officials in the sheriff's and probation offices on Tuesday defended their handling of the situation, saying they followed proper procedures. Alcantara said that at 10:15 p.m. about three hours after the escape, an electronic message was delivered to law enforcement agencies from here to the Mexican border, giving them probable cause for an arrest. Afterward, the arrest warrant - which includes a photo and commands and officer to arrest the fugitive - was written and taken to the judge, who signed it about 2 a.m.
Orozco, a Redwood City resident, was being held without bail for allegedly shooting a 21-year-old member of a rival gang in the head in 2005. He was 14 at the time of the shooting and is the youngest person in county history to be charged as an adult with murder.
His case was set to go to trial last month but delayed until May.