By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

Oct. 1, 2002

OAKLAND —A gunman who launched a daring robbery of a Dublin steakhouse ambushed a deputy sheriff responding to an emergency call there, pumping at least a half dozen shots into the man, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

During opening statements in the trial of three men charged with gunning down John Paul Monego, 33, deputy district attorney Jon Goodfellow told jurors that the man never even drew his gun before being hit.

“He basically had been shot so many times that one bullet blew his heart out,” Goodfellow said. “(It) went right through the heart.”

Monego was dispatched to the Outback Steakhouse the night of Dec. 11, 1998 after an employee there dialed 911, but hung up before talking with a dispatcher. Moments before the call, Goodfellow said, Ruben Eliceo Vasquez, 27, Miguel Galindo Sifuentes, 23, and Hai Minh Le, 23, had stormed the Regional Street restaurant.

Sifuentes and Le corralled customers and employees in the back, while Vasquez directed a manager to the office, Goodfellow said. It was there, the prosecutor told jurors, that the man was forced at gunpoint to tell a police dispatcher on the telephone that everything was fine.

“He takes this gun and puts it to the back of his head,” Goodfellow said, showing jurors a 9mm Sig Sauer handgun.

Vasquez scooped up about $4,600 of Outback’s receipts from the busy Friday night and began heading for the door, Goodfellow told the nine-woman, five-man jury. But coming inside was Angela Schwab, an Alameda County deputy sheriff who was first to arrive on the scene after the initial call.

She was caught off guard, Goodfellow said, and quickly forced to the back with the others after being stripped of her gun.

“She’s begging with him: ‘I have a small child. I don’t want to die,’” he said. Monego, who like Schwab was working under sheriff’s department contract for Dublin Police Services, steered into the Outback parking lot then walked to the front doors. Without warning, Goodfellow said, a blast drove the man to the ground.

“He ended up laying on his back out in front of the doors,” he said. “The shooter walks out that door, stands over officer Monego and fires at him.”

Officers rushed to the scene after Schwab and another man were able to call for help. But the suspects roared from the parking lot, leading authorities on a car and foot chase through the streets of Dublin, Goodfellow said.

All were arrested a short time later.

Bloodied and critically injured, Monego was raced to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley. He had been wearing a Kevlar vest, but the bullets had ripped around the body armor and through his gray uniform.

Doctors tried to save the young father, but Monego was later pronounced dead. The uniform was on display Tuesday in Judge Alfred Delucchi’s courtroom. Jurors eyeballed its blood-stained fabric and torn cloth as Goodfellow displayed photos taken during an autopsy.

Monego’s parents, sisters and widow broke into tears, quietly letting out emotional gasps. They declined to comment on the case.

Parents and loved ones of the three defendants, all whom hail from the Central Valley, also watched on silently. It was a difficult day, one woman said privately, declining to comment for print.

The men are charged with first degree murder and special circumstances that could garner a death sentence. While only one man did the shooting, Goodfellow said, all face the same possible punishment under California law.

Citing a gag order, defense attorneys declined to comment. Talking to Delucchi, however, they said Schwab’s medical records are needed to determine whether she was suffering any kind of illness at the time of the shooting.

“If she was being treated,” said Sifuentes lawyer Harry Traback, “that would have effected her perceptions at the time of the incident.”

Delucchi said he would take up the matter in chambers.

Defense lawyers are scheduled to present their opening statements to jurors today.

Reach Brian Anderson at 510-763-5418 or banderson2@cctimes.com.