East High teacher and football team assistant William Christiansen remembers the day 17-year-old Mataika Tuai removed his helmet at football practice and offered condolences to the coach, who had just lost his mother.
In front of a field of 80 players in Salt Lake City, Tuai walked over to Christiansen during a water break, tilted his head down and expressed sorrow for the coach’s loss.
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TCG case recap
A federal jury in October convicted six members of the Tongan Crip Gang (TCG) for crimes dating back to 2002, including robberies, assaults and supporting a criminal enterprise. The verdict came after a five-week trial and two days of deliberation. Several defendants are in the middle of serving other prison terms they will need to finish before starting their new federal sentences.
Eric “Smooth” Kamahele, 24, of Cottonwood Heights
Convictions » Racketeering conspiracy, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, using or carrying a firearm during a crime of violence and robbery. He was ordered to serve a mandatory minimum 32 years in prison.
Mataika “Fish” Tuai, 22, of Salt Lake City
Convictions » Racketeering conspiracy, robbery and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. He was ordered to serve seven years in prison on Wednesday.
David “D-Down” Kamoto, 24, of Salt Lake City
Conviction » Robbery. Jurors acquitted Kamoto on charges of maiming in aid of racketeering; assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering; conspiracy to commit assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering; and firearms charges. He was ordered to serve 36 months of probation because he served state prison time for the same crime.
Daniel “D-Loc” Maumau, 25, of Salt Lake City
Convictions » Assault with a dangerous weapon and using or carrying a firearm during a crime of violence. Jurors acquitted Maumau on charges of conspiracy to commit assault resulting in serious bodily injury and a second firearms count. He was ordered to serve 10 years in prison.
Kepa “Kap-Loc” Maumau, 24, of Salt Lake City
Convictions » Racketeering conspiracy, robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering and multiple counts of using or carrying a firearm during a violent crime. He was ordered to serve 57 years in prison.
Sitamipa “Tok-Loc” Toki, 28, of Salt Lake City
Convictions » Assault with a dangerous weapon and using or carrying a firearm in connection with a crime of violence. Jurors acquitted Toki of conspiracy to commit assault resulting in serious bodily injury and a second firearms count.
David “D-Nutt” Walsh » 32, of Inglewood, Calif.
Acquitted of » Conspiracy to commit assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering. Walsh will be returned to California, where he is serving a prison sentence for crimes. He may be possibly charged with murder in Utah’s 3rd District Court after previously unrevealed testimony during the federal trial indicated he was the alleged triggerman in the 2007 murder of Solomone Tu’ifua.
Charles “Slim-Loc” Moa » 32, of West Jordan
Acquitted of » Racketeering and weapons charges. The judge ruled there was not enough evidence for Moa’s case to be considered by the jury, and granted a defense attorney’s motion for acquittal prior to jury deliberations. Moa was sent back to the Utah State Prison in Draper, where he is serving a state prison sentence.
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"Having taught thousands of teens, I can attest this is unusual behavior. Someone this young, at a football practice, would take the time to express is compassion is uncommon. I should add that none of the adults there did the same," Christiansen wrote in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell.
"Please understand that Mataika was never one of my classroom students. This behavior could not benefit him academically. This incident reveals that Mataika is not malicious. He has a good compassionate heart."
Christensen wrote to the judge to describe the Tuai he once knew — a teenager known as a concerned friend, star athlete, and popular student — to contrast the violent description of a now 22-year-old Tuai painted during a five-week trial last year that ended with jury convictions for racketeering conspiracy, robbery and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Christiansen’s heartfelt letter made a difference to Campbell, who elected to sentence Tuai to seven years in prison — less than the 10- to 15-year range sentence she could have imposed.
Campbell said she considered the positive aspects of Tuai’s character, including strong support from family, who overflowed Campbell’s courtroom at the sentencing hearing. She also said the mandatory minimum sentence —required because one of Tuai’s codefendants used a gun when robbing a Walmart in 2008 —will give Tuai time to reflect on his actions.
"If 7 years doesn’t show you that hanging out with gangs is a ticket to no where ... then 10 or 15 years certainly isn’t going to do any good," she said.
Tuai was among 17 members of the Tongan Crip Gang charged in a 29-count indictment filed in federal court in May 2010, alleging the gang engages in acts of violence to enhance its prestige and to protect and expand the gang’s operations.
Nine of the 17 received Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, a move designed to take a major step toward dismantling the gang, prosecutors said when announcing the indictments.
At trial, prosecutors focused on Tuai’s role in the robbery of a Salt Lake County Walmart on Sept. 25, 2008.
Latutaofieikii Fakaosiula, 22, testified against Tuai last fall that he and others hatched the plan to rob the store at a kava club in Salt Lake City’s Glendale neighborhood. Fakaosiula entered the store at 13502 S. Hamilton View Road shortly before midnight on Sept. 24, grabbed a shopping cart and milled around the store with a phone as a carload of other gang members waited outside for their chance to pull a gun on employees and carry out a heist of the store’s cash room.
Fakaosiula testified that he served as a lookout and advised Eric Kamahele, Vainga Kinikini, and Tuai when to enter the store. The group thought they could get $100,000 and planned to put part of it on the books of other TCG members incarcerated in prison and jail, he said. Walmart was a target because Kinikini worked there and had scoped out robbery options.
Video surveillance captured the crime, in which Tuai pulled a phone out of the wall to prevent terrified Walmart employees from calling police.
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Drew Yeates emphasized Tuai’s callousness during the robbery, recounting how witnesses were scared to testify at trial for fear of retaliation by other gang members.
Tuai’s attorney, David Finlayson, said his client got caught on the "outskirts" of TCG because he lived in the same neighborhood as many associated with the gang. Tuai followed his friends who decided to carry out robberies and participated —but was never fully ingrained in TCG, Finlayson argued.
Tuai on Wednesday said he regrets involvement with the gang.
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