Does everyone remember the story of celebrity nacho chef Guy Fieri's Lamborghini getting stolen out of a dealership showroom? This all happened over two years ago, and the kid who supposedly did it is just now standing trial on theft charges, in addition to an unrelated attempted murder.
That kid is Max Wade, and the then 17-year-old was caught a year later, in 2012, with the Lamborghini and some other stuff in a storage facility in Point Richmond. Among the other items there were a motorcycle and gun that possibly connected him to an attempted murder in Mill Valley in which five shots were fired into another vehicle, at point blank range, by someone on a motorcycle with a dark helmet, injuring no one. The two teenagers who were shot at were acquaintances of Wade, who was known around town for being able to make fake IDs, and the girl in the car, the prosecution has argued, was someone Wade had a crush on. The Lamborghini was meant to impress her, or someone, and when she started dating this other guy, the story goes, Wade got pissed and fired some shots into the guy's car when they were together.
On March 8, 2011, a masked man used an elaborate rope system to rappel into the tony showroom of British Motor Car Distributors on Van Ness and steal Fieri's banana-yellow Laborghini Gallardo. The car was then seen on traffic cameras crossing the Golden Gate, and wasn't located until April 2012.
Wade is 19 now, and the trial has captivated quiet Marin. Guy Fieri was on hand to testify yesterday for just a few minutes, confirming that Wade did not have his permission to take his $200,000 car for a joyride across the Golden Gate, and then hide it away for a year.
The defense argued that all of the evidence against Wade is circumstantial, however the evidence is pretty great. The only thing he might get out of is the attempted murder charge, since the defense tried to argue that five shots at point-blank range that hit no one doesn't sound like attempted murder. His fate is now up to a jury.
