An infamous Marin County man convicted of several audacious crimes won’t be released from prison anytime soon.
At 17 years old, Max Wade stole celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s $200,000 Lamborghini to impress a girl and, months later, tried to shoot a man who was dating that same girl.
When detectives came to arrest him at a Richmond storage center, he brandished a loaded gun, according to police. Investigators say he was also working on a scheme to rob a San Francisco jewelry store and escape by helicopter.
In 2013, Wade was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison, but in July 2024 a state parole panel recommended that he be released. The full state parole board affirmed that decision, giving Wade the earliest possible release date of December 2028.
The Marin County District Attorney’s Office opposed the parole board’s decision, maintaining that Wade is still dangerous. The D.A.’s office pushed for a rescission hearing, which was granted in August.
The D.A.’s office did not immediately return calls to explain what changed about Wade’s parole, but SF Gate reported that the revocation was granted because Wade, now 32, was found in possession of a cellphone, which is contraband in prison.
Wade’s parole grant was rescinded on Sept. 1, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records. Wade is incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison and his next parole hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2027.
Wade was found guilty of commercial burglary and auto theft over a decade ago after he stole Fieri’s Lamborghini from a British Motors in San Francisco, where the car was being repaired. At the time of the robbery, Wade didn’t know the car belonged to Fieri, according to SFGate.
Wade was found guilty of attempted murder and firing a gun into an occupied vehicle in Mill Valley after he shot at a pickup truck, according to authorities. The vehicle was carrying the girl he was infatuated with and her date. The San Francisco Standard reported that Wade wasn’t aware that the girl was in the truck at the time. Neither person was injured.
Authorities later found the stolen Lamborghini, along with a motorcycle and revolver that was used in the shooting, in a Richmond storage facility where Wade had rented space, according to the Mercury News.
Fieri testified during the trial that he didn’t know Wade and didn’t give him permission to take his car out of the San Francisco dealership.
At the 2024 parole hearing, Wade said he didn’t try to kill the man in the truck out of jealousy, but because of an online dispute between the two a few weeks earlier, according to the Standard.
Wade’s sentence was reduced by 10 years after Wade’s attorney petitioned the judge to reconsider the sentence imposed for Wade’s gun charges, the Mercury News reported.
