Photo: Fua’s arrest
There are better ways to get a new car than to steal one, as the suspect in a Los Angeles-area carjacking has shown. She and a man perpetrated a vehicle theft on the evening of January 12th, 2019, and she was apprehended by Los Angeles police two days later.
The victim, a male Hispanic adult resident of Compton, had been forced out of his silver Kia sedan at gunpoint near to the intersection of Cherry Street and Matthisen Avenue in Compton by the suspect in question, a female white adult, and a male white adult accomplice.
Mid-morning on January 14th, authorities from the Compton Sheriff’s department spotted the stolen Kia near to the intersection of Rosecrans and Wilmington avenues in Compton and attempted a traffic stop.
The driver, spurning the police, decided to evade the stop and instead led authorities on a pursuit throughout the South Los Angeles area. Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Aero Bureau and California Highway Patrol officers joined in the chase. Local television stations broadcast the incident live.
After approximately 57 minutes of covering the streets and freeways of Los Angeles County, the driver of the stolen vehicle stopped in the area of Western Avenue and 98th Street in LA. At that time she exited the car and and for reasons unknown, began removing articles of clothing until she was clad in only a bra and undershorts, at which point she complied with police commands and was taken into custody without further incident.
Authorities identified the carjacker as Valerie Fua, aged 36 and of Compton, and arrested her for possession of a stolen vehicle and evading a pursuing police officer, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. No firearm was recovered and the incident remained under investigation. Fua’s bail was set at $75 000.
