Not guilty plea in tenant eviction scheme
A Mountain View landlord has pleaded not guilty to charges that she and her accomplices staged a home invasion against her tenants in an attempt to coerce them into leaving.
At a Sept. 27 court hearing, defendant Reenu Saini and her alleged accomplice, Steven Carling, both denied all charges made by Mountain View police. Both defendants were arrested in August in what police described as an brazen intimidation plan to evict a family from a Rock Street apartment that she managed. When the tenants refused to leave, Saini turned off the power to the apartment, and Carling began breaking down the front door, according to the police report.
Saini has said that her tenants had taken advantage of her by failing to pay rent, and claims that authorities refused to help resolve her situation. Her case is next scheduled to be heard in court on Thursday, Oct. 10.
In related news, Saini has filed a small-claims lawsuit against the tenants. The case alleges the family owes Saini thousands of dollars in unpaid rent for staying in a different Mountain View apartment under her management. There is no date scheduled yet for when the case will be taken up.
—Mark Noack
Bank robbery guilty plea
An Oakland man pleaded guilty in federal court last Thursday to charges that he robbed or attempted to rob 19 banks across Northern California, including in Palo Alto and Mountain View, between March 2018 and February 2019.
Duane Makela, 50, admitted in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer that he committed 10 armed bank robberies, seven unarmed bank robberies and two attempted bank robberies in his crime spree, which mostly occurred at banks and credit unions in the Bay Area but also in towns in or near the Sierra Nevada.
Federal prosecutors said that as part of his plea Makela agreed that he entered the banks and credit unions and demanded that employees hand over money.
Prosecutors said Makela also acknowledged that during each armed robbery he brandished what appeared to be a handgun, directed employees of the banks and credit unions to hand over money and stole a total of $69,000.
A federal grand jury indicted Makela on May 7, initially for five of the robberies.
Two of the robberies took place in Palo Alto: one at the Comerica Bank at 250 Lytton Ave. on April 13, 2018 and another at Wells Fargo Bank at 505 California Ave. on Feb. 4. One occurred in Mountain View at Meriwest Ciredit Union at 580 N. Rengstorff Ave. near West Middlefield Road on Oct. 19, 2018.
The 50-year-old man admitted to stealing $2,843 from the Wells Fargo Bank, which faces El Camino Real in Palo Alto, according to the indictment. The theft triggered a neighborhood search by police involving a K-9 unit, but they were unable to find Makela.
The Oakland man brandished a black handgun in the Mountain View robbery, where he stole a total of $1,100. He dropped a note later retrieved by authorities that read in all-capital letters:
“I have a gun, will use it.
Pass all $ now!
Both drawers.
You deviate, I’ll be back 4 U.
No alarms (sic) I’m watchin (sic) your hands
Dont (sic) even think bout (sic) button.”
Makela is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 15.
The prosecution resulted from investigations by the FBI with assistance from multiple police departments, including those in Pleasant Hill, Orinda, Daly City, Oakland, San Ramon, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Burlingame, Mountain View, South San Francisco and Alameda.
The sheriff’s offices of Contra Costa, El Dorado, Marin, and Alameda counties also assisted in the investigation.
—Bay City News Sevice
Man arrested after grabbing wife outside hospital
A Santa Clara man was arrested after he allegedly confronted his wife outside El Camino Hospital last week, grabbing her and attempting to drag her through the parking lot. He is also accused of taking her cellphone when she tried to call police.
The man, 34, was reportedly sitting on a bench outside the hospital on Grant Road as his wife was leaving the hospital around 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2. The wife told police that he grabbed her arm and tried to get her to come with him, taking her purse during the altercation, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. The man allegedly took her cellphone to prevent her from calling 911.
The man reportedly let go of his wife after he saw someone nearby calling for help and drove away in a Nissan sedan. He was later found in Santa Clara and arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment and domestic battery charges, as well as preventing the use of a communication device.
The couple was apparently separated at the time of the incident, Nelson said. The woman was not injured.
—Kevin Forestieri
