Two men connected to a vehicle robbery accepted plea deals from the state in 3rd District Court Tuesday morning.
Viliami Unga Fonua, 23, of West Valley City, pleaded guilty to an amended count of third-degree felony theft and misdemeanor burglary of a vehicle. Counts of second-degree felony receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle and misdemeanor possession of burglary tools were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Aaron Ankrom, 20, pleaded guilty to an amended count of third-degree felony receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle and a misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools was dismissed. Court documents listed Ankrom’s address as the Tooele County Detention Center.
Fonua and Ankrom were arrested on Jan. 20 after they were reported walking away from a vehicle that was high centered on a sidewalk in the area of 252 W. 970 North in Tooele. The vehicle had been stolen from Salt Lake City, according to a probable cause statement from the Tooele City Police Department.
Ankrom, Fonua and a juvenile female passenger were shown walking away from the vehicle on nearby security cameras around midnight.
Approximately 23 minutes later, a Tooele County Sheriff’s deputy located a broken-down vehicle north of the car occupied by Fonua and the female passenger, the statement said. An investigation of the second car showed the ignition had been started using a shaved key, which was on a key ring with other shaved keys of different vehicle makes.
A shaved key is any key that has been filed, shaved or ground down on either the ridges on the edge of the key or on the flat face of the key, to allow it to fit into the ignition of various different cars.
While the deputy transported Fonua and the juvenile female to the police department, the responding Tooele City police officer tracked down Ankrom, according to the probable cause statement. Ankrom was in possession of another shaved key at the time of his arrest.
While interviewing the suspects, Tooele City police learned that Fonua drove the first stolen car to Tooele, before allowing Ankrom to drive it after a stop at Wal-Mart, the statement said. The three subjects split up after abandoning the first stolen vehicle.
Fonua then stole the second vehicle from the Wal-Mart parking lot prior to being stopped by the Tooele County sheriff’s deputy, according to the probable cause statement. The owner of the second vehicle said he had left the car locked in the Wal-Mart parking lot with a for sale sign inside it.
Ankrom will next appear in Third District Court for sentencing on April 5 at 1:30 p.m. Fonua is scheduled to appear for sentencing on March 29 at 9 a.m.