News Briefs News Briefs (July 22, 2005)

Scanlan accomplices get life sentences

Two of the three men who accompanied Mountain View native Seti Scanlan on a deadly 2002 bank robbery spree were sentenced July 12 in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Sika Telea and Amu Wynn, Scanlan's cousin, were given 100 years to life and 40 years to life, respectively, for their role in several robberies along the Peninsula, including an Oct. 11 2002 Wells Fargo Bank robbery in Burlingame that left bank manager Alice Martel dead and another bank employee seriously wounded.

A few weeks later on Nov. 1, 2002, Wynn and fellow bank robber Manny Liu were arrested in East Palo Alto after a high-speed chase and crash. Telea was later located in San Francisco, and Scanlan surrendered at a Beaverton, Ore., store.

Although Scanlan was the purported ringleader in the crimes, Superior Court Judge Mark Forcum told Wynn and Telea that they cannot blame Scanlan for their actions, according to Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. The prosecutor said he agreed with the judge's remarks: The men "really showed their true evil colors," Wagstaffe said, when they knew that Martel had died, leaving behind two young boys "and they didn't stop." -- Jenny Baer

Injured Marine granted citizenship

Angel Gomez, the injured Marine profiled in last week's Voice story on young injured vets, was granted U.S. citizenship on July 14.

Gomez' naturalization ceremony took place at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, where he is currently being treated for a brain injury incurred during his time serving in Iraq. He is the third member of his family, many of whom emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico about 12 years ago, to gain U.S. citizenship.

An executive order issued three years ago by President Bush makes military members with permanent resident immigration status eligible for naturalization. -- Jenny Baer

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