• SAN PABLO MINISTER SENTENCED FOR RAPING WOMAN, 56: SAN PABLO (AP) — A San Pablo minister has been sentenced to nine years in state prison for raping a 56-year-old woman at his house.

Derrick Dwayne Brooks,l 60,  was sentenced Friday in Contra Costa County Superior Court.

Brooks’ relatives asked the court to show mercy to Brooks, a minister at the Lighthouse Full Gospel Church Pentecostal in San Francisco.

In May, a jury convicted Brooks of assault with intent to commit rape and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.

Prosecutors say Brooks met the Richmond woman at a Halloween Party on Oct. 29, 2011 and took her and her friend back to his house. After the friend left, he ripped off her clothes and sexually assaulted her before and after he punched her unconscious.



• TV NEWS CREW ROBBED OF CAMERA GEAR IN OAKLAND: OAKLAND  (AP) — Oakland police say a television news crew was robbed of camera equipment at gunpoint in broad daylight even while accompanied by a security guard.

Officials say three men accosted the KGO-TV crew around 2:30 p.m. Friday in West Oakland. At least one had a gun.

Police say the suspects ordered the journalists onto ground before fleeing with camera gear. The crew wasn’t hurt.

The incident is the latest robbery targeting media in Oakland.

In November, a KPIX news cameraman was punched and robbed during a live broadcast outside a high school. The incident prompted the station to hire security guards to accompany its crews when they cover news in Oakland.

In July, Bay Area News Group reporters and photographers were robbed of camera equipment while working in Oakland.



• AT LEAST 160 ARRESTED AT RICHMOND REFINERY PROTEST: RICHMOND  (AP) — Richmond police have arrested more than 160 protesters for trespassing at a Chevron refinery as part of an environmental protest against the oil industry.

Capt. Mark Gagan says more than 2,500 people marched to the Chevron refinery during Saturday’s planned nonviolent demonstration in Richmond.

Gagan says activists were handcuffed, cited and released after they refused to cease trespassing outside the refinery’s main gate. At least 160 arrests had been made by 4 p.m. Saturday, and he expects the total number of arrests to exceed 200.

Saturday’s action comes three days before the anniversary of the Aug. 6 explosion that fouled the air, shut down the refinery and sent hundreds of residents to the hospital with breathing complaints.



• SILICON VALLEY ENGINEER GETS LIFE FOR 3 MURDERS: SANTA CLARA (AP) — A Silicon Valley engineer will spend the rest of his life behind bars for fatally shooting three of his co-workers after he was fired nearly five years ago.

Jin Hua Wu, 52, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 75 years.

The Nov. 14, 2008, slayings at SiPort Inc. in Santa Clara was one of the worst workplace shootings in Silicon Valley history.

In March, Wu was found guilty of the first-degree murder for the killings of SiPort CEO Sid Agrawal, 56, supervisor Brian Pugh, 47, and office manager Marilyn Lewis, 67. The Santa Clara County jury ruled that Wu was sane when he committed the crimes.

Wu’s attorneys, who urged the jury to convict him of manslaughter, argued he was too mentally ill to form the intent to kill and had actually intended to kill himself. Wu testified that he had blacked out and could not remember the shooting.

Prosecutors say Wu, who had been working as a test engineer at SiPort for two years, had planned the shootings as revenge for being terminated after displaying bizarre behavior.



• SAN DIEGO AIRPORT HAS INDOOR POOCH POTTY: SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego has installed what may be the nation’s first airport pooch potty.

The “Pet Relief” station was installed as part of a billion-dollar expansion of Lindbergh Field in April. The 75-foot-square space includes fake grass and a hydrant.

It also has deodorizers, a handwashing station and complimentary baggies.

The airport has four outdoor pet relief areas but to use them, passengers and their pets must leave the terminals and go back through security all over again.

Tom Rossbach of HNTB, the design firm that handled the expansion, tells U-T San Diego that his office came up with the indoor station as a way to comply with TSA requirements for pet relief areas.



• SAN JOSE TODDLER DROWNS IN NEIGHBOR’S POOL: SAN JOSE  (AP) — San Jose police say a 2-year-old boy drowned in a neighbor’s pool after he wandered off while his baby sitter was sleeping.

Sgt. Jason Dwyer says Brian Tomlinson II died Thursday evening in what he describes as “tragic convergence of circumstances.” No foul play is suspected.

Investigators say when the unidentified baby sitter woke up, he couldn’t find the toddler and called police. An officer found the boy unresponsive in the neighbor’s backyard pool after pulling back the pool cover.

Officials say the boy was taken to a San Jose hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The drowning is the second in San Jose this summer. On June 28, 4-year-old Michael Trinh drowned at the community pool of a mobile-home park.



• SACRAMENTO PRIEST GETS 8 YEARS FOR MOLESTING GIRL: SACRAMENTO  (AP) — A Catholic priest in the Sacramento area has been sentenced to eight years in prison for molesting a 13-year-old girl when he was an overnight guest at her parent’s home.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda was sentenced Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court for touching the girl in a manner that “constitutes substantial sexual conduct.”

In front of a crowded courtroom, the 33-year-old Ojeda apologized to the victim and her family, saying “my actions were of a weak and sinful man.”

Ojeda had maintained his innocence since his arrest in November 2011. He pleaded no contest to molestation charges in July.

In a letter to Ojeda and the court, the victim said the priest had traumatized her and “devalued the meaning of being a Catholic.”