By the Daily Post staff
A man who committed a series of armed robberies, including two in Palo Alto, told police that his crew targeted Asian victims because “they believed Asians would have nicer cellphones, currency or jewelry,” according to the police report.
Siahola Tupouata, 19, of Oakland, was charged with a hate crime yesterday, along with two of his alleged accomplices: Curtis Freeman, 19, of Stockton, and Tavita Fifita, 21, of Oakland.
Tupouata told Officer Khalil Tannous that they were planning to sell stolen iPhones in San Francisco to support their families.
On Monday, the group stole a white 2020 Kia Sportage from Oakland and robbed an Asian man there, Tupouata told police.
That evening in south Palo Alto, a family of four had just returned home and pulled into their garage, police said.
The parents were approached by two men who demanded their phones, while two kids under the age of 10 were in the backseat, police said. Tupouata allegedly pointed a gun at the father and threatened to kill him if the family didn’t comply.
He and Fifita took both of the parents’ phones and ran to the getaway car driven by Freeman, according to police.
While officers were starting to investigate, a woman in her 40s reported that she had just been robbed of her cell phone at gunpoint while unloading her groceries in the Midtown neighborhood around 7 p.m.
Thirty minutes later, a woman and her friend said they had been robbed in a garage in Milpitas.
Officers tracked the crew using the Find My iPhone app, which was connected to one of the stolen phones.
Shortly after 9 p.m., San Francisco police officers pulled their car over in downtown San Francisco and found a pistol that shoots blanks only.
Tupouata and Freeman admitted to stealing the car and the iPhones, while Fifita asked for a lawyer before he was interviewed, according to the police report.
The group remained in jail yesterday with bail set at $250,000. The hate crime charge would allow a judge to extend a potential sentence for armed robbery.
If and when he gets to prison he’ll find that his people, Samoans/ Pacific Islanders, are on the same team- the “Others”, and could get a lesson in consequence, courtesy of Asians.
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He said he wants to feed his family? Get a real job
It’s unclear to me where we go from here.
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Do we imprison these three individuals for 10 years, at a cost of $100K/year/person, costing we taxpayers $3M? For crimes of about $10k? Or do we give them one year, costing us @300K, and see what happens next?
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In either case, what then are the likely post-prison outcomes for these three?
I agree we can’t afford to simply send them to jail. Both outcomes are bad. In all seriousness the judge should sentance them to have one hand chopped off each. Then you could even reduce the prison sentence down from ten years to five and it’s much more likely they won’t reoffend. People say it’s cruel but it works. Japanese crime rates per capita are much lower than in the u.s. due to the fear of how brutal police are. We need to instill some fear in criminals again in the u.s. and chopping off their hand for robbery with a gun as a legal punishment would be a good start(depending on the specifics of the case)
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The U.S. has more jobs, more opportunity than anywhere else in the world. I have zero sympathy for people who rob others in this country. Try living in the philipines, mexico, Columbia, then see how hard it is to support yourself if you think it’s hard to in the u.s. Bay Area robbers are criminal scum and deserve no mercy. We should be more like Singapore and if you rob someone with a gun, the judge should sentence you to prison and a broken hand.
The comments from “Jewish supremacist” are racist and should be removed
A certain group of people in America need to stop committing so much violent crime.
Too bad the woke left in control is so obsessed with Reformative justice and racial politics they tolerate this disgusting crime.
What if three White or Asian men went around targeting Black families to rob? Like target some Golden state warriors basketball players, those people have much more money than all of us. The media would go frenzy over it.
The hypocrisy is disgusting. Hope everyone with half a ounce of common sense reads this and understands.