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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, September 8, 2007

Hawaii pair fleeing with tot charged

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Joshua K. Feliciano Jr.

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Andrea Lee Taporco

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Authorities yesterday charged two people accused of leading police on a car chase Wednesday in Kapolei, crashing a truck with a toddler inside and running through a house in the subsequent foot chase.

Joshua K. Feliciano Jr. and Andrea Lee Taporco, both 19, were charged with auto theft, burglary and endangering the welfare of a minor. They were being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Feliciano, Taporco and Taporco's 18-month-old son were uninjured in the crash, which occurred shortly after noon Wednesday on Kapolei Parkway, about a tenth of a mile from the entrance to Kapolei High School.

Police said they were in a stolen Ford Ranger pickup truck that sped away from police officers who noticed the vehicle had been reported stolen.

The truck crashed and flipped over. Police said Feliciano and Taporco — with the woman carrying her son — ran away from the truck, leaving its engine running.

The couple hopped fences and broke into and ran through at least one home as they fled officers, police said.

Police found the couple, with the child, trying to get through a locked gate in the yard of a home about two blocks from the crash site.

The boy was taken to the Kapolei police substation, where he was looked at by paramedics. Paramedics took the child to Hawaii Medical Center-West for examination. The child was to be turned over to officials from the Child Protective Services.

The boy has been placed in emergency foster custody, police said. Feliciano is not the child's father, police said.

Taporco and Feliciano have been in trouble with the law recently. Feliciano is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 24 in an unrelated car theft case. He pleaded guilty to stealing a car on July 23 and was out on bail awaiting sentencing.

Taporco was arrested Aug. 2 for prostitution. She paid a $500 fine and was sentenced to six months' probation.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.