Bay Area briefs

SAN FRANCISCO — The district attorney will double the number of staffers assigned to protect criminal witnesses after a gang murder witness was gunned down by masked assailants.

District Attorney Kamala Harris said Sunday that 14 investigators will now work part-time helping witnesses and their families relocate outside city limits and escort them to court appearances, medical appointments and other meetings in San Francisco.

The district attorney’s office has 20 people in its witness protection program.

Terrell Rollins, 22, was shot to death Thursday at a repair shop where he and a relative were having work done on a van.

He was seriously injured in the September shooting that killed gang member Arkelylius Collins, 20, and he testified to a grand jury against Daniel Dennard and Deonte Bennett, both 21, who were indicted in March on murder charges.

Both men are being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Family members said Rollins often came to the city without an escort.

Los Gatos thief turns in alleged child molester

SAN JOSE — A burglary victim is facing trial on child molestation charges after a thief looking through stolen computer files found photos of him fondling a girl and notified authorities.

John "Robbie” Robertson Aitken, 22, was arrested a year ago after police received an anonymous package containing a computer memory card that had been stolen from his house during a break-in, authorities said.

A letter with the package said, "Please remove this animal from the streets.”

Officers searched Aitken’s home and found more than 100 child pornography pictures. He was charged with 15 felony counts of oral copulation with a minor and other molestation charges, prosecutors said. The alleged victim was his boss’ daughter.

Authorities didn’t know who tipped them off until Matthew Ryan Hahn, 26, of Los Gatos was arrested on 19 burglary and grand theft charges and told them he had reported Aitken.

Hahn would not say where he got the stolen memory card and is not charged with the Aitken break-in, but he told the San Jose Mercury News the card ended up in his possession and he was so disturbed by the photos he decided to turn in the owner.

Transit station stinks

PALO ALTO — A wooded area near a bustling transit station and a cluster of businesses has become so inundated with human waste it needs to be immediately addressed as a public health threat, health inspectors said.

There is only one public restroom near the plot of land near the Caltrain station at University Avenue and El Camino Real that serves thousands of commuters and hundreds of homeless people who attend a nearby drop-in program.

Public restrooms at the Caltrain station have been closed for more than a year as the depot undergoes a major renovation.

Port-a-potties at either end of the station were removed to cut costs.

Santa Clara County Environmental Health Department director Ben Gale declared the area a priority public health issue Friday.

Because the transit depot sits on unincorporated land, the county plans to lean on neighboring cities and transportation agencies to help fund more public restrooms.

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