From the archives

A group supervisor at the county’s new girls camp was arrested for allegedly having sex with a former teenage ward in a South San Francisco parking lot, leading to his termination the week prior and launching an internal investigation the week of March 10, 2007 into his tenure at the Youth Services Center.

Carlos Alberto Ordonez, 23, of Daly City, was arrested Feb. 24, 2007 after a South San Francisco police officer stumbled upon him and a 15-year-old girl having sex in a car parked at Oyster Point, said Sgt. Joni Lee.

Ordonez was arrested on one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Lee said.

Ordonez began work as an extra-help Group Supervisor I, filling in open shifts, on Aug. 13, 2006, said Tim Sullivan, assistant human resources director for the county.

The entry-level positions involve supervising juveniles, counseling groups and individuals and maintain discipline, according to the job description.

Ordonez and the girl met while she was enrolled at the girl’s camp of the YSA but she is not thought to have been a resident at the time of the incident, Lee said.

Funding for worker resource center in question

The worker resource center for day laborers in San Mateo was facing a funding problem and the City Council was set to discuss how to pay for the program, it was announced the week of March 10, 2007.

The worker resource center, at city-owned property on Fifth Avenue near the railroad tracks, was created in 2003 to address residents concerns about day laborers loitering on Third Avenue and the nearby neighborhoods. The number of men the program serves ranges from 125 to 150 a day and the number of street loiterers ebbs and flows frequently.

In months prior, however, police did not issued citations to laborers loitering in the streets despite large signs telling them it is illegal to hire from the streets. There are also signs pointing contractors to the worker resource center, where men wait for work and can take classes.

Martial arts champ convicted of molestation

A Brazilian martial arts champion and instructor accused of giving inappropriate massages to four boys, including three students, was facing two years in prison and life-long registration as a sex offender after pleading no contest to one felony and three misdemeanors counts of child molestation the week of March 10, 2007.

Joao Pierini, 35, changed his plea at a pre-trial conference rather than stand trial on the original nine charges including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, annoying a child under 18, sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behavior.

On Dec. 15, 2006, four boys ages 15 to 17 allegedly ran into Pierini at a local Starbucks coffee shop and he invited them back to his studio, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at 2830 N. Cabrillo Hwy. in Half Moon Bay, where he also lived.

Pierini reportedly gave the boys his keys, told them to put their beer in the refrigerator and said he’d meet them there.

Prices at the pump rise as refinery profits swell

California refinery profits more than doubled since the prior fall, one factor fueling both rising gasoline prices and record oil company profits, it was reported the week of March 10, 2007.

Refinery profit margins now stand at $39 per barrel on the West Coast, more than double their average of $17 for the prior five years.

A limited number of refineries make California’s gas. Those refineries belong to a handful of companies. Chevron Corp., for example, controls roughly one quarter of the gasoline refining within the state. Chevron recorded 2006 earnings of $17.14 billion, its largest ever, boosted in part by refinery operations.

Gasoline prices jumped above $3 a gallon for regular grade in some parts of California. The most expensive gas in the mainland United States was San Francisco, where a gallon averaged $3.10, a jump of about 34 cents from a month prior, it was reported that week.

From the archives highlights stories originally printed five years ago this week. It appears in the Thursday edition of the Daily Journal.