By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

March 15, 2002

OAKLAND —One of three men accused of robbing a Dublin steakhouse where an Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy was gunned down told detectives that a codefendant orchestrated the deadly hold-up as well as a restaurant robbery committed days earlier.

In a taped confession played Thursday, Hai Minh Le told detectives in the days after Deputy John Paul Monego was killed outside the Outback Steakhouse that Reuben Eliceo Vasquez led he and Miguel Galindo Sifuentes during the two incidents.

“I knew something was going to happen,” Le said of the Dec. 12, 1998 Dublin robbery. “I thought we were going to eat there then when we got their he told me the situation and stuff.”

Le told detectives he was supposed to herd customers and employees into the back of the Regional Street restaurant. He had done just that, he said, when Deputy Angela Schwab peeked through the front door.

“(Vasquez) told her to get down on the ground or something like that,” Le said in the recorded statement, adding that he was instructed to put the woman with the others. He grabbed Schwab by the belt and pushed her to the back, he said.

“I heard a couple of pops,” Le said. “I think I pushed the lady to the ground.”

Le ran to his car and roared out of the parking lot, he said. They raced through Dublin, crashing a short time later as a reserve officer gave chase.

Sifuentes, 22, was arrested inside the car while Le, 23, and Vasquez, 26, were arrested after a short foot chase.

Monego, a 33-year-old husband and father, was taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley where he was pronounced dead.

During a police interview, Le admitted to also being involved in the Dec. 8, 1998 robbery of Mallard’s restaurant. Le said the trio joined up in Turlock and Modesto then drove to the Stockton eatery where Vasquez told him where to park and what to do.

Vasquez went in, pulled out a handgun and began speaking in Spanish to four or five employees, Le was recorded saying. But they eventually left without any money after the manager locked himself in an office.

No one was injured in the Mallard’s case.

Walter Cannady, an Oakland attorney defending Vasquez, said outside the courtroom that Le was simply protecting himself during the police interrogation.

“It’s very damning,” he said, “but it’s also very self serving.”

Le attorney Albert Wax said the tape indicates his client played a minor role in the robberies and certainly never intended for anyone to get hurt.

“My client is a nice young man who got caught up in circumstances he could not control,” Wax said. “He’s ashamed and regretful and remorseful.”

Prosecutor Jon Goodfellow played the tapes during a hearing before Judge Alfred Delucchi, who will decide whether the statements should be allowed in at trial. Delucchi is also considering whether to grant about a dozen other defense motions.