Crime & Safety
Former SRJC Coach Pleads Not Guilty In SSU Student's Crash Death
Logologoa Taumaloto Tevaseu, 36, of Santa Rosa, is charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI in the death of Paulette Quiba.
SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A Santa Rosa man pleaded not guilty this morning in Sonoma County Superior Court to murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI in connection with a collision that killed a Sonoma State University student and injured five other people in November. Logologoa Taumaloto Tevaseu, 36, faces four felony charges that also include driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more within 10 years of a prior DUI conviction.
Allegations in the complaint allege he caused bodily injury to six victims and refused to take a chemical test to determine his blood-alcohol level. The complaint alleges that level was 0.15 percent, nearly twice the amount considered intoxicated.
Tevaseu was driving a 2006 Dodge Ram south on Lakeville Highway east of Petaluma around 9:10 p.m. on Nov. 5 when he crossed double yellow lines and collided head-on with a 2015 Toyota Corolla driven by Paulette Geronimo Quiba, 21, of Oakley, according to the California Highway Patrol.
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Three other vehicles then collided with the Toyota or each other, resulting in injuries to five other people. Quiba, a business studies student at Sonoma State, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tevaseu, a defensive line coach with the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs football team at the time of the collision, refused to take a blood draw after the collision, according to the CHP.
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Tevaseu's previous DUI occurred on Oct. 20, 2011. He was convicted on Feb. 29, 2012, and served 10 days in jail, according to court records.
The Sonoma State University Facebook page stated that Quiba began her studies in the fall of 2015. She was a junior and was taking pre-business courses, and was a proud member of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, the
Accounting Forum and the Filipino American Association.
Quiba also was a staff member of Join Us in Making Progress, where she currently was the Days of Service coordinator, and part of the Sustainability Coalition.
Tevaseu's preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 7.
He is still being held without bail at Sonoma County Jail.
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By Bay City News Service
Mugshot via Sonoma County Sheriff's jail website
