Federal prosecutors in the East Bay have filed robbery charges against five people believed to be among 11 participants who robbed a San Ramon jewelry store last March, unaware that one of the Rolex watches they allegedly stole contained a tracking device, court records show.
Among the five suspects are one man who remains a fugitive and another who allegedly received sensitive information that only police knew about the case, raising questions as to whether the investigation was compromised by a turncoat within law enforcement.
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The March 17 robbery involved seven people leaving two cars to commit an armed, takeover robbery of Heller Jewelers in San Ramon, while drivers of both vehicles remained behind. The robbers made off with more than 70 pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $1.1 million, but one of the Rolex watches they stole contained a secret GPS tracking device, something that bank and jewelry store employees commonly use nowadays to deter theft and robberies, according to the criminal complaint.
Charged are Sunia Mafileo Faavesi, 30, Ryan Kentrell Montgomery, 35, Paul Christopher Tonga, 33, and Kyle Vehikite, 34, who have all been booked in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on no-bail federal holds. Additionally, John Ioane Tupou, 30, has been charged but not yet arrested, records show.
The suspects were identified through a combination of help from the GPS tracking device, surveillance footage, and later, DNA evidence collected from the two vehicles believed to be used in the robbery. During the investigation, authorities served multiple search warrants around the Bay Area, seizing firearms, methamphetamine and opiate painkiller pills, authorities said in court papers.
They also uncovered evidence that Tupou and Tonga went to a casino to launder money, including a photograph showing Tupou posing by fanning a huge stack of cash to hide his face, but not his distinctive arm tattoos, according to the criminal complaint. The evidence also suggests the suspects knew they were under investigation and either left the area or stayed on the move, traveling around the Bay Area and avoiding law enforcements’ attempts to arrest them as best they could, authorities say.
But perhaps the most concerning piece of the criminal complaint are allegations that within three weeks of the robbery, Tonga spoke with a person — known in the complaint only as “Subject Two” — who authorities say appeared to “relay information to Tonga, at Tonga’s request, directly from a law enforcement insider related to the ongoing robbery investigation.”
The source, who is referred to as “she” several times in the conversations, appears to work for a police department in San Mateo County, according to the complaint. “Subject Two” lets Tonga know “all this info gon (sic) cost you,” then proceeds to relay details of the investigation to Tonga, records say.
“She’s still waiting to get the request in depending on how crazy the office is … it can take days, weeks, maybe even months all depends on when the office can get to it & send it out,” Subject Two wrote, referring to the unnamed law enforcement source, according to the complaint. “Don’t trip I got you tho (sic) I’ll let you know if anything pops up.”
The complaint says that the robbers, including people who have yet to be identified, cased the area days before the robbery. Then, at around 2:45 p.m. on March 17, the robbers entered the store, one holding a gun to the lone security guard’s head and punching him as the other six entered. One of the six pointed a gun at 10 customers in the store while the other five began smashing jewelry cases, authorities said.
The entire robbery lasted approximately one minute, police said.
From there, the robbers split off into two cars and headed east, with one vehicle traveling to San Mateo while an undercover officer followed behind tailing it. The car made a stop at an address on Idaho Street in San Mateo, prompting police to later search it and find evidence Tonga had been living there. Both cars used in the robbery were found abandoned in Oakland, and later tested for DNA, authorities said.