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In 2025, The Almanac published over 70 stories about criminal activity in the region, including coverage of a carnival worker who was charged with attempted murder and the raid of a gift store where law enforcement found chocolate with psychedelic mushrooms. As 2025 comes to a close, we wanted to provide updates on the cases and look back at some of the most impactful.
Of course, 2025 ended with several major police incidents including a self-inflicted shooting near La Entrada Middle School and a false gunfire report one day later. Those cases were excluded as there is no active criminal case to provide an update on. Information on juvenile cases was hard to come by and The Almanac hopes to publish further updates on major cases involving juveniles in 2026.
Merced resident Jaydon James Anderson was sentenced to six years in state prison on Aug. 26, 2025 for a June 2024 incident where he allegedly pointed a 9 mm handgun at an intoxicated 19-year-old at the Menlo Park 7-11 on Oak Grove Avenue, and pulled the trigger. The handgun jammed, so no shot was fired, prosecutors said.
Anderson had just finished working at the annual Nativity Carnival up the street, according to police. While the incident occurred on June 8, 2024, he was arraigned almost a year later in May.
While he was originally charged with attempted murder, the charges were reduced to felony assault with a semi-automatic weapon and an enhancement for use of a firearm.
Anderson is a convicted felon and was prohibited from owning a firearm.
Nativity School previously told this news organization he worked for a company hired to run the carnival.
Because of the gun charge, Anderson will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
In January, the Menlo Park Police Department announced it had arrested San Jose resident Brenden Orallo, 20, for burglarizing at least three homes to steal bicycles. While many of the bikes and stolen goods had already been sold, the department was able to recover one bicycle worth $8,000.
Orallo was charged with felony first degree burglary and felony first degree residential burglary. During the crimes, he was out of jail for a different felony court case, records indicate.
While the court denied a motion to release him on his own recognizance in January, he was allowed to leave jail in February after arranging a $50,000 bail bond.
In March, he did not show up for a preliminary hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Originally, the bail company petitioned the court to vacate the forfeiture of bail and exonerate it from having to pay. However, a judge denied that request.
After that, the bail bond company requested a 180-day extension to locate Orallo. According to court documents, the bail bond company has been unable to locate him. Both of the phone numbers Orallo provided were inactive and he no longer lives at either of the two addresses he provided.
A bail bondsman told the court he was “confident” that with an extension, he could locate Orallo and bring him into custody.
On Jan. 5, Ronald Simpson was allegedly seen with bolt cutters near SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory campus in unincorporated Menlo Park. When deputies from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office arrived to investigate around 8:30 p.m., they saw a man matching Simpson’s description. Simpson allegedly ran towards Interstate 280 but was apprehended with the help of a search dog. Simpson was allegedly found with other burglary tools in addition to bolt cutters.
At the time of the burglary, Simpson was on release for another case, court records say.
Simpson was originally charged with two counts of felony attempted burglary and attempted vandalism. In February, he pled no contest to one count of felony burglary and was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail, in addition to two years probation. Due to the crime, he likely only served 30 days in jail, according to prosecutors.
He told police he planned to break into the lab to steal copper wiring, which he planned to sell to buy food, prosecutors said. SLAC declined to ask for restitution.
Court records indicate that his parole was revoked in July due to a violation and he was ordered to serve another 60 days in jail. Records show a warrant was issued for his arrest but do not indicate he has been apprehended.
As the county health department was threatening legal action against a “gift store” in West Menlo Park that allegedly opened and sold tobacco paraphernalia without a license, deputies from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on the store.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, on Aug. 12, following a raid of the store, it found evidence the store sold tobacco, weed and psychedelic mushroom chocolate.
Following the raid, the store closed for good after pressure to the landlord from county supervisor Ray Mueller and some residents over the sale of tobacco products, a sign installed without permits and the pending criminal investigation by the Sheriff’s Office.
According to Sheriff Spokesperson Gretchen Spiker, a criminal investigation is still underway by the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force and no case has been sent to the District Attorney’s Office.
The Almanac attempted to get a copy of the search warrant but the San Mateo County Superior Court did not respond in time for publication.
As for the storefront located at 3536 Alameda de Las Pulgas, it is now a wellness business.
Atherton has some of the most valuable houses in the country. So when there is a break in, oftentimes items like famous paintings or jewelry are stolen.
However when Tong Thach, 47, was arrested on June 10 for breaking into an Atherton home, all he had done was eat $20 worth of soda, chips and leftover noodles.
Residents of the home on Lloyden Park Lane came home to find him in their kitchen and called the police.
Thach was charged with felony first degree burglary. He was originally released on his own recognizance on June 11 but the court’s pretrial services division requested his release be revoked and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Dec. 18, Thatch’s attorney declared doubt of his mental competency and the criminal case was suspended. After a doctor examined Thach, he determined Thach was not competent to stand trial and the District Attorney’s Office agreed.
Thach was ordered to go to the Department of State Hospitals to be restored to competency. Thach consented to antipsychotic medication and will be voluntarily receiving treatment. If he later decides to revoke consent, the court will decide whether to force him to receive treatment involuntarily.
A status hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7. Thach’s commitment was ordered to not be longer than two years.
Over $2.4 billion was lost to scams targeting elderly adults in 2025, according to the Federal Trade Commission. While many perpetrators of these crimes are overseas and often difficult to identify, both the Menlo Park Police Department and the Atherton Police Department independently arrested two people who allegedly defrauded elderly residents.
According to the Menlo Park Police Department, San Jose resident Arya Mehta, 22, allegedly texted a 77-year-old resident purporting to be affiliated with a major online retailer and a federal agency in February. Mehta allegedly threatened the victim with prison time unless they provided cash to a courier. The victim withdrew $35,000 in cash from multiple bank branches over two days. According to police, Mehta picked up a box with the cash on Feb. 12 and police later located him and arrested him.
Mehta was charged on Aug. 18 with felony theft by false pretenses, felony theft from an elder or dependent adult and two enhancements. Mehta was let out of jail on supervised release on his own recognizance.
On Oct. 21, his attorney declared doubt to his mental competency and he is set to be evaluated by a doctor. The court will receive the doctor’s evaluation on Jan. 5.
In Atherton, police arrested a 57-year-old San Bruno resident in April after she allegedly convinced an elderly resident to hand over $15,000 in cash, believing it was going to PayPal.
The victim had received an email claiming to be from PayPal about an unauthorized withdrawal and was later contacted by the suspect, who allegedly posed as a PayPal representative and instructed the victim to give $15,000 in cash. The victim went to several bank branches over two days to get the funds. Police said a caretaker intervened and police were able to arrest the suspect before cash changed hands.
Following the arrest, prosecutors requested the Atherton Police Department conduct a follow-up investigation so the District Attorney’s Office could decide whether to file charges. While the officer assigned to the case only recently submitted the results of the investigation, the District Attorney’s Office elder abuse unit asked for further details and expects to make a charging decision within the next three weeks.
It is the policy of this news organization not to name suspects until the District Attorney’s Office decides whether to file charges.
