By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

July 22, 2001

OAKLAND — Motoring out of Oakland and toward the familiar surroundings of San Ramon, Thomas Wheelock whizzed along East Bay roads unnoticed among other drivers.

Despite its high profile, the armored car he was driving likely attracted only the occasional curious glance as he steered through traffic toward an auto parts store on San Ramon Valley Boulevard. By all outward appearances, nothing was wrong.

But inside Armored Transport car 1836 was the lifeless body of Rodrigo Cortez of Pittsburg. Wheelock, an unheralded 20-year-old San Ramon guard, was at the helm and on the run.

Three years and eight months after shooting Cortez dead and confessing to the murder, Wheelock will face an Alameda County jury Tuesday in Oakland on a first-degree murder charge and special circumstances that could send him to death row.

Caribbean cruise

The story begins about a week before the shooting.

On board a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ship, Wheelock and Peter Michael York partied like rock stars. York had won the trip in a contest, and the two were taking full advantage of the free-flowing booze, court records showed.

Wheelock, a rookie guard at Armored Transport of California in Oakland, had an idea. He plotted to rob one of the cash-carrying armored cars, then run for the Canadian border, according to a crude printed blueprint of the crime later found in a car.

He would learn to speak Spanish and Russian and become an international assassin. He would figure out how to sail and rendezvous with York, who was to be responsible for most of the initial legwork to put the plan in action.

But the buzz eventually wore off, and the two buddies headed back to the San Ramon Valley.

They were folding back into daily life on a Monday -- three days before Thanksgiving -- and a fast food lunch was on order.

York later said the meeting left him with a "gut feeling" Wheelock was about to launch what one prosecutor later deemed a "Laurel and Hardy operation," court records show.

Shuttle run

About 5:30 the night of Nov. 24, 1997, Wheelock and Cortez left the Armored Transport building on Eighth Street in Oakland on a "shuttle run," a short trip to carry cash from one facility to another. They were scheduled to drop money at a bank on Hegenberger Road and the Brinks building on Alameda Avenue, then return no later than 9 p.m.

But trouble loomed at a Union Bank, according to papers filed by the defense.

Wheelock misplaced paperwork that was supposed to coincide with some money bags, assistant public defender Michael Ogul said in court records. He searched the armored car as the clock continued to tick.

"Tom screwed up," Ogul said in an interview. "He made mistakes on the job that night, and those mistakes were causing problems."

The mishap knocked the guards off schedule, making them late to the Brinks building, records showed.

Wheelock apologized, Ogul said in court papers, enraging Cortez, who berated his young colleague for accepting the blame.

"(Two bank employees) both told us that Mr. Cortez was cussing at our client in such vehement, vitriolic tones that they were surprised that Tom did not go off on him right then and there," Ogul said.

Back in the armored car, Wheelock and Cortez rolled toward the front gate. It was about 7:30 p.m., and a 30-minute drive back to Armored Transport would bring them in an hour ahead of schedule.

They again were arguing about the apology, according to defense records, when Wheelock pulled out his 9 mm handgun and fired off a shot that struck Cortez.

The 30-year-old went down but tried to struggle to his feet when Wheelock fired another shot, then another.

One bullet pierced the man's jaw; the others hit him in the neck and shoulder.

Wheelock checked the man's pulse. Cortez was dead.

On the run

Dumping the rig behind Monument Auto Parts in San Ramon, Wheelock ran to a nearby Denny's, then to the York house on Zephyr Circle in Danville, where he stole a duffel bag from the garage to carry the money.

He talked with Peter York's older brother, Robert, who later told police Wheelock was sweaty and wanted to borrow a car. Robert York declined.

About 10:30 that night, Wheelock took a cab to the Game Station in Walnut Creek where he used to work, Oakland police Officer Mike Foster wrote in a report. He met Peter York, who later told Foster in an interview that Wheelock explained what had happened.

Wheelock ordered Cortez to pull the armored car to a spot near a stashed stolen vehicle, then shot him, York said. Wheelock jumped in the car, but abandoned it when it failed to start, then drove the armored car to San Ramon.

York and Wheelock returned to a spot near the auto parts store where the duffel bag full of cash had been hidden, then headed for Sacramento. Using his own name, Wheelock checked into Room 214 of a Motel 6, hoisting the 100-pound bag full of nearly $300,000 in cash to the second floor.

York, who later pleaded guilty for his role as an accomplice and was released after serving two years in Santa Rita Jail, headed back to San Ramon.

His mother, Deborah J. York, said Friday her son was "doing fine" but declined to comment further.

Word was out by then, and police were looking for the armored car and its two guards. Marlene Cortez, who was months shy of celebrating her seven-year anniversary with Rodrigo, was paging her husband over and over, only to hear nothing.

She declined to comment for this story.

The armored car containing Cortez was discovered the next morning. A manhunt for Wheelock was launched.

By then, though, the guard was on the road in a used Ford Bronco he bought in Sacramento. More than a decade old, the truck was having problems.

He pulled to the side of Interstate 5, where California Highway Patrol Officer Richard Barr stopped to lend a hand. Wheelock appeared nervous and kept his hands in his pockets, records show. But before Barr could run a check, an accident call stole him away.

Wheelock had the Bronco repaired and was back on the road. He headed into Idaho, then back down Interstate 15 into Utah.

About 1:20 p.m. on Nov. 27 near Centerville, Utah, Highway Patrol Officer Randall Richey noticed the truck had no license plate and pulled it over. Thirty minutes earlier, authorities back in the Bay Area who had discovered the Sacramento hotel room had typed Wheelock's name into a national computer database.

Richey called for backup and Wheelock was arrested.

"He planned this thing 10 to 15 days ahead of time," said assistant district attorney James Anderson. "I think it's betrayal and treachery at its lowest form."

The trial is expected to last through August.