Local briefs

The 25-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a Millbrae man found dead inside his car on a residential Burlingame street in July should learn next month if he’s fit to stand trial for murder

A pair of court-appointed doctors were scheduled to alert the court Friday whether Teyseer "Terry” Zaid Najdawi is able to aid in his own defense or should be hospitalized at a state facility. Only one of the doctors had finished his report, postponing the matter until January.

Sanity is a person’s mental state at the time of an alleged crime while competency is their mental state during the judicial process. If Najdawi is found incompetent he will go to a state mental hospital for treatment. If the doctors find him fit, he’ll stand trial on charges of murder and using a firearm. He is also charged in a separate case with assault with a deadly weapon and resisting a correctional officer stemming from a jail house incident while awaiting prosecution for the previous alleged murder.

On July 10, Jack Chu, 27, of Millbrae, was found slumped in a car in a Burlingame neighborhood north of Broadway. Police quickly connected the car in which Chu was found with an early-morning shooting reported July 8 in Millbrae. The vehicle matched the description of the car seen at the Millbrae shooting. On July 10, police seized bloody clothing from the home of Najdawi’s mother and, a week later, apprehended Najdawi at a Redding motel.

Najdawi remains in custody on no-bail status.

Masseur delays sexual battery trial

A Foster City masseur accused of inappropriately touching and orally copulating a female client delayed his trial on three misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.

LaVarr Anderson, 30, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. On Friday, he pushed the January trial back until April.

Anderson was employed at Massage Envy when, on Dec. 5, a client reportedly told Foster City police he placed his hands over and inside her underwear before pulling them down and performing oral copulation.

Massage Envy management has previously denied comment.

The woman told police she immediately sat up from the table and Anderson asked if he offended her. Anderson is free from custody on a $30,00 bail bond. He returns to court April 13 for trial.

Police investigate increase

in expensive bicycle thefts

PALO ALTO — Palo Alto police have noticed an increase in the number of expensive bicycles stolen over the last several months and are working to find those responsible for the crimes, Agent Dan Ryan said Friday.

A total of 31 bicycles, each worth $1,000 or more, have been stolen from June through last week, Ryan said. Nine of the 31 bikes were worth between $4,000 and $10,000. The thefts are taking place throughout the city.

"We have noticed the numbers, certainly, so our investigators are beginning to track where they're going to and hopefully lead back to those people or groups responsible,” Ryan said.

With Stanford University and high school and middle school students, bikes are lost or stolen nearly every day in Palo Alto, according to Ryan. However, there has been a spike in the thefts of the expensive bikes most likely used for resale.

"There seems to be a bump up in some of the expensive ones,” Ryan said. "These are more custom road bikes or those with custom components that are used for longer rides.”

Detectives are looking into the various cases, most likely carried out by different individuals or groups, according to Ryan.