3 Accused Of Armed Robberies In Palo Alto, Milpitas Arrested In SF

PALO ALTO, CA — Three Oakland residents accused of a string of armed robberies in Santa Clara County were arrested in San Francisco on Monday night.

Siahola J'lan Tupouata, 18, Tavita Lauti Fifita, 21, and Curtis Eddie Charles Freeman, 19, were all taken into custody after being pulled over in a vehicle that was allegedly reported stolen out of Oakland earlier Monday, Palo Alto police said.

The three are accused of using the white Kia Sportage SUV as a getaway car in three separate robberies that involved threats at gunpoint.

The first two robberies occurred in Palo Alto within about 25 minutes of each other, when a family of four was confronted in the 1100 block of Trinity Lane by two people who demanded a purse and two phones. They fled with the phones but not the purse, according to police.

Shortly afterward, at about 7 p.m., another person was robbed of her phone in the 800 block of Marshall Drive.

After contacting regional law enforcement agencies, San Francisco police located and stopped the Kia that had allegedly been used in both crimes.

The trio is accused of also robbing someone in Milpitas in the same way shortly after the Palo Alto robberies. The victims' phones were allegedly found in the vehicle, along with multiple other phones and a pistol that shoots blanks.

No injuries were reported in any of the robberies.

The three were booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on allegations of multiple felonies.

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