Local briefs

Two men accused of kidnapping a Redwood City food store owner and demanding a ransom from his family last month pleaded not guilty while a third suspect remains at large.

Arnulfo Barrajas Loza, 41, of Richmond, and Saul Davila, 21, of San Leandro, appeared in court yesterday for the second time since their April 9 arrest by their respective police departments. After pleading not guilty to all charges they were ordered back to court Aug. 8 for a preliminary hearing.

Two days previously, the victim was reported missing after family members realized he never made it home.

Later, employees at one of the man’s stores in San Jose received a call from the victim and his kidnappers. The man told his employee that all the money from his four food stores was to be delivered to an unidentified location as ransom for the man’s release.

The police set up a sting to deliver the money but one suspect reportedly fled when he saw the officers. The victim was freed later that day in San Jose but the suspects still reportedly demanded the money. After a second sting delivered $23,000 to Davila, police followed him to Fremont where he and Loza were arrested. The third suspect escaped.

Both men remain in custody on no-bail status.

Office worker pleads not guilty to pill forgery charges

A 29-year-old medical office worker, Christa Luchetta-Herrera, accused of ordering painkillers in the name of patients to feed her drug addiction pleaded not guilty to 10 felonies.

Christa Nicole Luchetta-Herrera was on three separate terms of felony probation for forgery and had completed a residential drug treatment when she went to work at a Daly City doctor’s office, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

During her lunch hour she would allegedly forge prescriptions for hydrocordone drugs in patients’ names, causing their insurance companies to be billed, and pick up the pills at a local drug store.

Luchetta-Herrera pleaded not guilty to all charges and was ordered back to court June 5 for a pre-trial conference followed by a June 25 jury trial.

She remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Not guilty plea in pigeon drop scam

One of two men arrested for allegedly trying to scam thousands of dollars from an elderly San Carlos man in a so-called pigeon drop plan pleaded not guilty.

Gregory Dorsey, 48, of San Leandro, asked for a court-appointed attorney and returns to court May 14 for a preliminary hearing. Meanwhile, he remains n custody in lieu of $200,000 bail.

At approximately 11 a.m. April 30, the 70-year-old man was approached at the Home Depot parking lot by a man claiming he was from South Africa and had just picked up $200,000 from 9/11 insurance money from the death of a relative. They drove to another location where a second man was told the same story, according to police.

Both convinced the man to withdraw $8,000 cash to show one could withdraw all their money from the bank. One of the men showed the victim a package wrapped in a black bandanna he claims is $45,000. It was later revealed the "spirit package” contained newspaper.

San Carlos police Officer Gil Granado stopped the car and determined the men had a large sum of money and that the 70-year-old man may have been the second victim of the day, police said.

Pumpkin Festival raises money for community

Coastside nonprofit groups, educational organizations and municipal agencies will be the beneficiaries of $104,000 in grant money and donations from the Half Moon Bay annual Art and Pumpkin Festival, according to the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee.

The grants are in addition to $400,000 collected from sales at the annual Pumpkin Festival, event organizers reported.

"Supporting and strengthening the community is what the Pumpkin Festival is all about,” said Cameron Palmer, president of the Beautification Committee.

The Beautification Committee has raised $2.3 million in funds from the proceeds of the festival in its 36-year history, according to event organizers.

"When we started the festival in 1971, the goal was to raise money to restore Main Street,” said Bev Ashcraft, an original member of the Beautification Committee. "Not many people know that for 36 years now, the Pumpkin Festival has been funding the little things that give Main Street its unique character and charm.”

Money raised from this year’s festival will go to over 24 different organizations and $7,000 will go toward college scholarships that will be awarded to Half Moon Bay high school students.

Some of the civic projects funded with pumpkin festival money include the renovation of city hall, the painting of historic buildings, the installation of old-fashioned street lights and wooden benches and the underground wiring of Main Street.

This year the annual festival will be from Oct. 13 to Oct. 14. More information about the festival is available by calling (650) 726-9652.

Police searching for suspects in robbery and assault

Police are searching for suspects in an assault and robbery that took place Tuesday night, San Bruno police said Thursday.

Police officers responded to a call at 6:07 p.m. reporting a disturbance on the 300 block of Mastick Avenue. Officers found two victims, a man and a woman, who had been approached by two men as they stood outside a residence, according to police.

The two suspects approached the male victim and on man punched him in the face several times while the other suspect removed cash from the victim’s pocket, police reported. The suspects then fled the scene in a tan four-door car, possibly a Toyota Camry, which was occupied by two other men, described only as Polynesian men.

The two suspects are described as Polynesian men, 17 to 20 years old, police reported. The first is around 6 feet 2 inches tall, and heavyset with long wavy hair worn in a ponytail. He was wearing a black hooded T-shirt and dark pants during the assault.

The second suspect is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, around 180 pounds, with a shaved head. He was wearing a blue and white striped shirt and jeans during the incident, according to police.

The car was last seen going east on Chapman Avenue, police reported.

The male victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment for non-life threatening injuries.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the San Bruno Police Department at (650) 616-7100.

NDNU honored as best small college paper in state

The Argonaut, the student newspaper of Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, took first place in General Excellence in the California College Media Association competition Saturday night at a dinner at Hearst Castle.

In all, The Argonaut won 15 awards in 11 categories.

The Argonaut competed in the division for college newspapers which publish less frequently than once-a-week. Second place went to the Otter Realm of California State University, Monterey Bay, and third went to the newspaper of Mills College in Oakland.

First place individual winners included Erik Oeverndiek (whose work accomplished while a graduate student last spring was eligible) for Best News Photo and Best Feature Photo; senior Taio Iwado, Best Cartoon; and NDNU graduate Shane Ito, Best Sports Photo. Ito also won second place in Best Feature Photo.

Other Argonaut honorees included Editor-in-Chief Bianca Nery who won third-place in Best News Feature and an honorable mention in Best News Series; Sports Editor Corazon Riley, second in Best Sports Page Design, third in Best Sports Photograph, and second in Best Breaking News Story; Managing Editor Jennifer Coleman, second in Best Editorial; former editor-in-chief Dominic Nolasco, second, Best Breaking News Story; columnist Sergio Patterson, second in Best Arts & Entertainment Review; and cartoonist Kent Gibo, second, Best Cartoon.

The competition was judged by professional journalists from major newspapers throughout California.

New carnivorous plant exhibit opens at flower conservatory

An expanded exhibit of Venus flytraps, white trumpets, pitcher plants of Borneo and other carnivorous plants will be on display Friday at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.

The exhibit is called "Chomp!” and its curators promise a "little shop of horticultural horrors.”

The new exhibition includes several species, such as flypaper traps, suction traps and pitfall traps, as well as a 4-foot-tall sculptural model that simulates an insect’s slow death in a pitcher of digestive juices, and takes place in the swampy Big Bog.

The exhibit is scheduled to be open until early November.

Entrance into the conservatory, located on John F. Kennedy Drive near the eastern entrance of Golden Gate Park, costs $5 for adults and $3 for children.