Alleged Redwood City bus thief declared competent to stand trial

Murillo-Cuellas has been charged with six felonies, including commercial burglary, car theft and vandalism, and is in jail on $1 million bail. His next court date is July 22 for a preliminary hearing.

Murillo-Cuellas already has faced charges related to a March 28 incident in which he allegedly stole a Sequoia Union High School District school bus and sped through Redwood City before striking a Pacific Gas and Electric transformer, causing more than $100,000 in damages, according to court documents.

Murillo-Cuellas was released from custody April 11 and the next day allegedly committed a similar offense. He was released based on new statewide rules that automatically reduce bail for most non-violent crimes to zero in an effort to prevent coronavirus from spreading in jails by reducing their populations.

Wagstaffe has been critical of the new rule because it allowed for the release of inmates, including Murillo-Cuellas, who he described as a threat to public safety.

“He’s a leading example of how the zero bail could’ve really harmed people. It was only by the grace of God we didn’t have someone hurt by the way he was driving,” Wagstaffe said. “That’s an example of where zero bail failed the community.”

In the early morning hours of April 12 after being released from jail, Murillo-Cuellas allegedly broke into All Fence Company, Inc., located at 1900 Spring St. in Redwood City, and stole and crashed four company trucks.

The fourth truck he allegedly drove to Gunn High School in Palo Alto, sped around the campus doing doughnuts — the antics were captured on surveillance video — and ultimately got stuck on the baseball field. Police apprehended Murillo-Cuellas there and determined he was high on methamphetamine and marijuana.