(The following story by Christina Jewett appeared on the Sacramento Bee website on August 14.)
SACRAMENTO — Five alleged members of the Broderick Boys street gang were arraigned Monday on charges that they stopped an Amtrak train in April and attempted to rob and kill the train’s engineer.
Three juveniles — ages 15 to 17 — were charged as adults in the late-night beating that left the engineer impaired, said Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Jay Linden.
The juveniles — Orlando Ramos, 15, Robert Reynolds, 16, and Austen Nunes, 17 — shuffled into Yolo Superior Court in Woodland, shackled and chained together, to face Commissioner Janene Beronio.
Daniel Bonge, 18, also was charged. Defendant Pauliton Nunes, 19, remains at large.
The defendants did not enter pleas. They were informed that they were charged with attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a public transportation employee, battery, attempted robbery and vandalism. The teenagers also face enhancements for gang activity and inflicting great bodily injury.
The defendants, who are being held in juvenile and adult jails, are not eligible for bail, Beronio said.
Barry Melton, Yolo County’s public defender, said his office is representing one defendant. He said he doesn’t know the details of the case but doesn’t believe all five are culpable for all of the charges.
“You’re going to find out probably that no more than one or two were principal actors,” he said.
Documents in the case and Linden’s comments to The Bee in April and on Monday laid out the allegations:
One of the teens stood on the railroad tracks at about 10:15 p.m. April 16, forcing the eastbound Capitol Corridor train to stop short of the I Street Bridge.
The teens pulled the engineer from the train and told him to give up his wallet and cell phone. At least one climbed onto the train for unknown reasons.
The teens attacked the engineer with rocks, bottles and a fire extinguisher. They also threw rocks at the train, causing damage.
Linden said the engineer remains impaired from his injuries and has not returned to work.
Linden described the attack as “brutal” and said the 15-year-old teen’s role warranted that he be charged as an adult.
“This was a vicious gang beating by these kids,” Linden said.
After the hearing, Gale Rogers, the mother of defendants Austen and Pauliton Nunes, offered an alternate version of events:
The teens were out drinking at the tracks, and one was throwing up, when the train screeched to a halt. Four men exited the train, one armed with the fire extinguisher. The teens initiated the attack by throwing rocks, but it proceeded in mutual fighting that left Bonge with nose injuries that required hospital care.
Rogers said her son Pauliton is in Reno and she hasn’t talked to him recently about the charges.
She also said the Broderick Boys aren’t around anymore and that police unfairly target teens who live in the neighborhood.
Linden said the severity of the charges has nothing to do with an injunction his office is seeking against the Broderick Boys.
The county was granted special powers through an injunction in 2005, allowing police to enforce unique laws in a 3-mile area of West Sacramento. In the northeast corner of the city, members of the gang are prohibited from staying out past 10 p.m., drinking in public, carrying guns or associating with each other.
An appeals court struck down the injunction in April, saying not enough Broderick Boys members had been notified of its powers.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig was back in court seeking to reinstate the injunction in July, vowing to notify more gang members. Linden said 19 have been served so far with notice of the injunction.
He described the gang as a subset of a notorious Latino street gang that sells methamphetamine and marijuana, robs people and attempts murders.
He added that the charges against the teenagers simply serve as an example of the threat Broderick Boys pose in West Sacramento. “This was a brutal, vicious attack,” Linden said. “If it occurred in Davis, Woodland or in the county — these are the same charges that would be faced.”