A 36-year-old man allegedly responsible for a series of armed robberies throughout San Mateo County, including the Sunday morning sexual assault and robbery of a gas station employee in San Bruno, has been arrested, a Daly City police lieutenant said Friday.
Sione Motuapuaka was taken into custody without incident at his Daly City home shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday, according to police Lt. Jay Morena.
Robbery task force investigators had identified Motuapuaka as the suspect by viewing security surveillance videos of him allegedly committing the crimes.
Each video showed a man in his 30s with either a large automatic pistol or a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun, Morena said.
The most recent robbery occurred at about 10 a.m. Sunday when Motuapuaka allegedly entered a San Bruno gas station and brandished a gun at the female employee, according to Morena.
He directed the woman into the beverage display cooler in the back of the gas station, where he sexually assaulted her, San Bruno police Cmdr. Marc Catalano said.
After the assault, Motuapuaka left the woman tied up in the back room while he entered the cashier area and waited on a customer, Morena said.
Motuapuaka then took an undisclosed amount of cash from the register and left the gas station on foot, according to Catalano.
The other four robberies took place in January at stores in Daly City and Colma.
On Jan. 3, Motuapuaka allegedly robbed a liquor store on School Street in Daly City while displaying a sawed-off shotgun. Two days later, he robbed a flower shop on Hillsdale Boulevard in Colma also armed with a shotgun, Morena said.
A doughnut shop on San Pedro Road in Daly City was robbed Jan. 16, as was a sandwich shop in the Skyline Plaza shopping center in Daly City on Jan. 28, according to Morena.
Motuapuaka was booked into San Mateo County jail on charges of armed robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, Morena said.
