October 28, 2024 – OAKLAND, CA – Freddie Lee Davis III, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity 
theft, was sentenced to 24 months and a day in federal prison. The sentence was handed down on October 24, 2024, by the Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, United States District Judge. Davis’s co-defendant, Sene Malepeai, also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and has yet to be sentenced.
Davis and Malepeai, both 27, were charged by criminal complaint on June 30, 2023. Davis was remanded to federal custody on August 31, 2023, and has remained in custody since then. Both defendants were charged by superseding information on July 19, 2024, with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The criminal complaint describes that on June 17, 2021, officers responded to a report of a robbery in the parking lot of a Costco in San Leandro. The victim of the robbery was an Asian female (identified in the complaint as “Q.D.”). The robbery took place in the store’s parking lot after the victim exited Costco. As she was walking to her vehicle, a car drove alongside Q.D. and an individual reached out of a window and grabbed hold of her purse from the moving car. Q.D. held onto her purse and was dragged the width of several cars. The car then sped away and Q.D. let go of her purse and fell to the ground, resulting in bodily injuries, including abrasions to her leg and swelling on her hand. Several witnesses heard Q.D. scream, heard her body hit the asphalt, and saw a black Honda speed away from the incident. Surveillance cameras revealed that the car had a license plate number registered to Davis.
On August 1, 2024, Davis pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. In Davis’s plea agreement, he acknowledged this robbery and admitted that he received some of the stolen items, including Q.D.’s MasterCard credit card. Davis further admitted that days after the robbery, he knowingly and unlawfully possessed the credit card knowing it belonged to Q.D., and possessed it in relation to a violation of wire fraud. In particular, he and co-defendant Malepeai used Q.D.’s credit card, while misrepresenting Malepeai as the lawful user of the credit card, to fraudulently purchase merchandise at a shoe store in San Leandro and make a number of other fraudulent purchases.
In addition to sentencing Davis to 24 months and a day in federal prison, Judge Gonzalez Rogers ordered him to pay restitution in an amount to be determined and to serve three years of supervised release to begin after his prison term is completed.
“Community members should be able to live their lives without fear of being robbed and having items stolen from them used fraudulently,” said United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey. “We will vigorously prosecute these crimes and make sure that defendants like Mr. Davis face serious consequences for their misconduct.”
On September 17, 2024, Davis’s co-defendant Malepeai also pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Malepeai admitted that, on the day of the robbery, she was a passenger in a vehicle with three other individuals. As detailed in Malepeai’s plea agreement, earlier that day, the three other occupants of the vehicle had discussed “going to Chinatown to rob Asian women with purses or jewelry.” They first drove to Chinatown to look for Asians with purses, then went to the parking lot of a retail store, and eventually ended up at a Costco in San Leandro. Two of the occupants in the vehicle had previously stated that they “preferred robbing Asians because they thought they have more money, and because Asians are ‘easy targets’ who don’t fight back,” according to Malepeai’s plea agreement. After the robbery, the three other occupants of the vehicle divided up the stolen goods from Q.D.’s purse, including cash, credit cards, a checkbook, and two cell phones, as Malepeai admitted. Malepeai further admitted to using Q.D.’s credit card, while misrepresenting herself as the lawful user of the credit card, to fraudulently purchase merchandise at a shoe store in San Leandro and make a number of other fraudulent purchases.
Malepeai’s next hearing before Judge Gonzalez Rogers is set for November 7, 2024.
The mandatory minimum penalty for aggravated identity theft is two years in prison, and the maximum statutory penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison. However, any sentence following a conviction is imposed by a court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp.
Assistant United States Attorneys Eric Cheng and Molly Priedeman are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Mimi Lam. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI with assistance from the San Leandro Police Department.
Source: DOJ Release
