By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

Nov. 2, 2001

OAKLAND — A San Ramon man was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a Pittsburg father and robbing the armored car they were both guarding.

Thomas Franklin Wheelock, 24, was convicted last month of killing 30-year-old Rodrigo Cortez nearly four years ago as they shuttled millions of dollars in cash around Oakland. With his partner's body sprawled inside the armored car, Wheelock ditched the vehicle in San Ramon and fled with about $300,000. He was arrested several days later in Utah after a highway patrolman noticed the truck he bought in Sacramento was missing a rear license plate.

A jury recommended in September that Wheelock be given a life sentence rather than the death penalty for which prosecutor Jim Anderson had fought.

"He may wish that he had gotten the death sentence rather than (imprisonment) at the institutions he'll be sent to," Anderson said after the hearing. "He's fortunate."

Without comment, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Alfred Delucchi finalized the sentence as Wheelock's parents and other supporters sat quietly in the gallery.

The victim's widow, Marlene Cortez, did not attend Thursday's hearing. She had testified briefly during the penalty phase.

Wheelock's father, Gerald Wheelock, said Thursday he was glad the trial was over.

"He's going to prison, and he has a chance to live a decent life," said Wheelock, who was a witness in the guilt and penalty phases.

His son told a probation officer in early October that he continues to have nightmares about the killing and misses the man he called a friend. Wheelock said in a probation report that he wished people believed his side of the story, that he never intended to kill Cortez.

"I hate myself for what I did and probably always will," Wheelock told Sonja Tateo, a county deputy probation officer. "I wish I could talk to his wife and son and tell them how bad I feel."

Wheelock had asked Delucchi, through a bailiff, to perform a wedding ceremony Thursday for him and the girlfriend he met while in jail. Delucchi declined the request.