SANTA ROSA – Perhaps he forgot he had stolen it back last November. Or maybe he bought it from someone who had. Or maybe he just had a lot of nerve.
On Friday at 2:45 in the afternoon, two young men drove up to Santa Rosa Powersports seeking a part for their motorcycle, which was stowed in the back of their pickup truck. The people in the shop must have recognized the bike in the truck as the same one that was stolen from the shop on November 5, and they contacted the Santa Rosa Police. The two men lost their chance at claiming they didn’t know it was a stolen bike when they quickly left, taking the truck with the bike down Santa Rosa Avenue.
An officer in the area, now aware of the situation, spotted the truck headed north, and went after them. The truck turned off the road when they saw they were being chased, and the two men bailed out on foot.
An “Eye in the Sky” – Sonoma Sheriff’s helicopter “Henry 1” was conveniently in the area, and assisted in observing so officers could set up a perimeter. The two men were soon in custody. 21-year-old Fogatia Fuiava was arrested, while his companion was released. Fuiava was booked into Sonoma County Jail on charges of possession of the stolen motorcycle, violation of probation, and violation of parole.
Fuiava had been charged in late 2009 with attempted murder when he was 17. He had reportedly been in a conflict while with a group of friends in Sebastopol. They returned to find their antagonist later after the verbal exchange, and shot the man with a sawed-off shotgun from a car. Fuiava was with three others, including a teenage girl, when he fired the single shot, which resulted in several minor wounds in the victim’s arm and torso from the shotgun pellets. He was tried as an adult in the Sonoma County Court.
