Week in Review: Local Teacher Arrested on Molestation Charges; Road Rage Caught on Video

FREMONT

'Extreme Road Rage' on I-880 Caught on Video

A driver caught a fellow northbound I-880 traveler in Fremont behaving very badly — and dangerously — via a dashboard cam. In the video, a golden 1990s Toyota Camry chases the car and attempts to “brake check” the victim multiple times by cutting him off and intentionally slamming on the brakes. The acts could have caused a rear-ending.

A house was completely destroyed in a fire that erupted on Moss Landing Terrace Wednesday night. Firefighters responded to the 3900 block of Pescadero Terrace shortly after 5:15 p.m. to find three houses, which were under construction, burning, along with a ruptured natural gas line. One home was lost and four other houses were damaged, for an estimated cost of damage totaling $150,000. No injuries were reported.

Fremont Marine Pleads Guilty in So Cal Window-Shooting Spree

A pair of 20-year-old Camp Pendleton-based Marines arrested last fall for shooting out the windows of more than two dozen stores and vehicles in southern California pleaded guilty to the vandalism spree on Tuesday. Joseph Ikaika Nahale of Fremont and Jesse Jordan Ivie of Gresham, Ore. both pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vandalism. Multiple misdemeanor and federal counts of vandalism were dismissed. Nahale and Ivie were put on three years of informal probation and ordered to do 80 hours of community service and eight hours of graffiti removal. Their driver's licenses were suspended for a year.

UNION CITY

Union City Teacher Charged with Molesting 8 Female Students

A longtime Union City teacher faces eight felony charges alleging that he molested eight different female students. Michael William Howry, 47, a third grade teacher at Alvarado Elementary School, was arrested at his home in Alameda on Wednesday and is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $1.5 million bail. On Friday, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office charged Howry with three counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and five counts of child molestation. Read the full report here.

Vandal Targets Filipino Establishments in Hate Crime

A vandal struck the Old Alvarado neighborhood over the weekend, spraying graffiti on three Filipino-American establishments. The pieces of graffiti appear to be written in the same handwriting. According to the Union City Police Department, the suspect painted anti-Filipino messages, and police are investigating the case as a hate crime. Though the identity of the perpetrator is unknown, the graffiti appears to name two ethnic groups. On the Filipino Community building, located at 3939 Smith St., the vandal crossed out “Filipino” and wrote “Mex” above the word “community,” with “f--- Filipinos” underneath. Similarly, the graffiti scrawled on Toppings read “Mex” and “f---- Filipinos” on one side of the restaurant’s entrance door with “AMS” on the other, suggesting that the act may have been motivating by the renaming of Alvarado Middle School after Filipino-American labor leaders.

Grandmaster Max F. Pallen Jr., member of a family that taught classes in Union City and operated martial arts studios in Castro Valley and San Leandro, passed away Tuesday morning according to a note posted on Facebook by his brother, Jordan Pallen. "On behalf of the Pallen Family, I would like to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers," Jordan Pallen wrote. "Please add extra prayer for my mom and dad, who is taking it really hard."

NEWARK

Crime Log: K-9 Cop Falls Through Ceiling While Nabbing Wanted Man In Attic

The collection of reports from the Newark Police Department also includes reports of unusual vehicle recoveries, a man acting like a car and domestic violence, among others.

Newark Schools' Truancy Rate Close To State Average

Slightly more than one-fourth of Newark public school students were reported as truant at least once during the past school year, according to information released by the state superintendent's office. The district's 29 percent truancy rate is close to the state average and slightly below the county average. The highest rate in the district is at Bridgepoint Continuation High with 77 percent. It's followed by Newark Memorial High with 50 percent. William Whitton, the district's coordinator of pupil services, said the district's truancy rate has dropped more than 5 percentage points since the 2009-2010 school year. However, district officials still aren't satisfied. "Students missing school for inexcusable reasons is just not acceptable," Whitton said.

Police Tips: Auto Burglary Prevention

One of the most read stories on Newark Patch this week was a list of burglary prevention tips from the Newark Police Department. The 12 tips will help deter burglars, who are always looking for easy targets who leave phones, laptops, purses and other items in plain view.

What was your favorite story this week? Got a story idea for us? Tell us in the comments.

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