Five men of Samoan and Tongan descent have been charged by the Office of the United States Attorney in San Francisco with conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce.
The defendants, Sunia Mafileo Faavesi, Ryan Kentrell Montgomery, Paul Christopher Tonga, John Ioane Tupou, and Kyle Vehikite are charged for their roles in the March 17, 2023, robbery of Heller Jewelers in San Ramon, California.
According to a federal criminal complaint, filed July 21, 2023, and unsealed at the initial appearance, Faavesi, 30, Montgomery, 35, Tonga, 33, Tupou, 30, and Vehikite, 34, planned and executed the armed heist, which involved at least eleven individuals, some armed, taking approximately $1.1 million in stolen watches and jewelry from the family-owned San Ramon jewelry store.
The complaint alleges that while some of the participants were inside the store or immediately outside it during the armed robbery, others acted as lookouts and get-away drivers of at least four waiting vehicles.
The robbery took place at a bustling mall in San Ramon in the middle of the afternoon and resulted in multiple bystanders, including children, fleeing the masked and armed robbers.
The complaint alleges investigators were able to identify one of the defendants by evaluating GPS information emitted from a stolen Rolex watch. Law enforcement investigators thereafter conducted a covert investigation that ultimately enabled them to identify each of the five defendants and to piece together the movements of the defendants on the day of the robbery.
All the defendants, except Tupou, made their initial federal court appearance on July 27 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse to face the charges. Tupou remains at large.
A complaint merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine of $250,000.
