Feds indict four men previously charged in Fremont jewelry store takeover

FREMONT — Four men facing charges in Alameda County in connection with a brazen June jewelry store robbery, in which a car was rammed through the storefront, have since been indicted in federal court where they could face harsher penalties if convicted.

The defendants were indicted Dec. 18, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday and publicized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the federal Northern District of California.

The robbery was reported in the late afternoon June 18 at a jewelry store in the 5100 block of Mowry Avenue, with authorities — including Fremont police and later the FBI — alleging that the four defendants were part of a group of more than two-dozen people who headed there in nine vehicles reported stolen throughout the Bay Area.

They reportedly drove a 2018 Honda Accord into the front of the occupied store, then the group, clad in ski masks and gloves, swarmed the interior and smashed display cases with hammers and other tools and grabbed jewelry by the handful.

Also during the robbery, at least one of the intruders reportedly brandished a gun at a security guard while another member of the group held his arms and took him to the ground. After taking approximately $1.7 million worth of merchandise, the group got into waiting vehicles and fled.

One of those getaway vehicles, an Acura TLX, was pursued by police and traveled as fast as 70 miles per hour on city streets before crashing. The four defendants ran from the wreck but were soon arrested, and police reported recovering stolen jewelry both in the car and along their failed escape path.

Police said around the time of the arrest that one of the suspects confessed to the crime. The four men were identified as Afatupetaiki Faasisila, 20, of San Bruno; Concord residents Jose Herrada-Aragon, 20, and Andres Palestino, 19; and Tom Parker Donegan, 19, of Fairfield.

They were initially charged in Alameda County Superior Court with felony counts of second-degree robbery and receiving stolen property, and a misdemeanor count of resisting police. They pleaded not guilty and were released from custody.

Federal authorities filed a criminal complaint against the four on Dec. 8, then secured a grand jury indictment 10 days later formally charging them with with one count each of robbery affecting interstate commerce.

Faasisila and Palestino were arrested Monday, and Herrada-Aragon and Donegan — who is accused of being a getaway driver — were already in jail custody on unrelated charges, and were formally transferred to federal custody, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted, the new charges expose them to potential maximum sentences of 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.