Press Release

Four Anchorage Men Receive Prison Sentences for March 2016 Vehicle Thefts and Burglaries

July 7, 2017

(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) – This morning, Faamolemole Uiese, 27, Fale Moevao, 31, Usugofono Palauni, 24, and David Ekeroma Fatialofa, 27, pled guilty to vehicle theft in the first degree, burglary in the second, and theft in the second degree. The defendants conceded that their crimes were aggravated, allowing the imposition of a harsher sentence.

The offenses forming the basis of the convictions occurred in March 2016. An investigation by the Anchorage Police Department implicated the four men in the thefts of six different vehicles, break-ins at twelve different businesses, and theft of thousands of dollars in personal property. Moevao pled guilty to resisting arrest in an unrelated incident in December 2015, Palauni pled guilty to failing to stop for the police in unrelated incident in April 2016, and Fatialofa pled guilty to the attempted murder of an Alaska State Trooper during a vehicle chase in May 2016.

Pursuant to a plea agreement with the state, Uiese, Moevao, and Palauni were sentenced to three years imprisonment. Fatialofa will receive a sentence of ten years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Jack Smith accepted the pleas and sentenced the defendants in accordance with their plea agreements. He noted that under new sentencing ranges established last year, defendants convicted of vehicle theft or commercial burglary cannot ordinarily be sentenced to jail time. Judge Smith said that the aggravated sentences were necessary to recognize the effects the offenses had on the community.

"Alaskans have the right to enjoy their property in security," said Assistant District Attorney James Klugman, who prosecuted the case. "Those who violate that right – and who put the police officers who protect us in danger – should understand that their criminal actions will have consequences." The Anchorage District Attorney’s Office recognizes the efforts of the officers of Anchorage Police Department, who devoted hundreds of hours to the investigation of these cases.

For more details about these cases, please contact Assistant District Attorney James Klugman at (907) 269-6300 or james.klugman@alaska.gov.

More information about the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office is available at http://law.alaska.gov/department/criminal/adao.html.

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.