The Marin County man once dubbed a real-life criminal mastermind for stealing celebrity chef Guy Fieri's yellow Lamborghini as a teenager has lost his parole nearly two years after the full parole board affirmed his release. Max Wade, now 32, had his parole rescinded on September 1 after a San Quentin correctional officer testified that he found a cellphone tucked into Wade's waistband.
Wade was arrested at age 17 in connection with a string of crimes committed in 2012, including an attempted murder charge tied to a drive-by shooting in Mill Valley in which he tried to kill a romantic rival, according to the Marin Independent Journal. He was prosecuted as an adult in Marin County Superior Court and is serving a sentence of 21 years to life. Detectives who arrested him at a Richmond storage facility said he brandished a loaded gun at them during the arrest, per the same report.
A Teenage Crime Spree That Grabbed National Attention
Wade's most notorious act was stealing Fieri's $200,000 yellow 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder in March 2011 by rappelling into British Motors in San Francisco, according to SFGATE. He planned to sell the car to a dealership in the Dominican Republic, per the Marin Independent Journal, though The San Francisco Standard has reported Wade testified during his July 2024 parole hearing that he began making and selling fake IDs at age 14 and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When Marin County sheriff's detectives arrested Wade at a Richmond storage facility, they found the stolen Lamborghini, a motorcycle, a gun, automatic weapons, climbing gear, radio frequency jammers, and an SFPD uniform, SFGATE reported. Wade had also developed a scheme to rob a San Francisco jewelry store and escape by helicopter, according to the Marin Independent Journal. Even behind bars, his case drew unusual attention: in August 2012, on his 18th birthday while he was held at Marin County Juvenile Hall awaiting trial, at least two accomplices attempted to free him by using sledgehammers to break through his cell window, according to CBS News.
How a Life Sentence Became a Parole Case
Wade's path toward possible release traces back to changes in his sentence. In January 2014, Marin County Superior Court Judge Kelly Simmons sentenced Wade to life in prison plus 21 years and four months, but in 2021, the same judge cut 10 years off his firearm enhancement sentence following state sentencing reforms.
That combination of legal changes brought Wade's case in front of the state parole panel years earlier than his original sentence anticipated. The panel recommended his release in July 2024. Wade had earned college degrees, completed a gun violence prevention program, and contributed to prison life. The Governor's Office referred the case to the full parole board for review that October, and the board affirmed the parole decision that November. Wade's earliest possible release date, as reported by the state prisons department, had been December 2028 — meaning the 2024 parole grant would have freed him years ahead of that timeline.
The Cellphone That Undid a Parole Grant
The rehabilitation narrative unraveled in May 2025, when a prison officer allegedly caught Wade with a cellphone. A San Quentin officer testified he recalled seeing Wade attempt to hide an object under his laptop before discovering the phone tucked into his waistband, and a San Quentin lieutenant told the panel that Wade admitted to having it. The parole board ordered a hearing on whether Wade's parole grant should be revoked, and that rescission hearing was postponed several times before commissioners finally rescinded his parole on September 1. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's California Parole Hearing Process Handbook, the Board may refer a parole grant for a rescission hearing through an executive board meeting.
Wade's attorney, Tracy Lum, did not dispute that her client had a phone, but she reiterated his allegation that the officer had smuggled the device into the prison and targeted him in a setup. Lum said prison authorities appeared unconcerned about how or why Wade possessed the phone, while the San Quentin officer maintained that Wade was lying. Commissioners denied Lum's request for an independent investigation, and the hearing did not surface how Wade obtained the phone or whom he may have contacted with it. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, its contraband-interdiction efforts target items including controlled substances, weapons and cell phones entering state prisons. Related legal materials address contraband smuggling and disciplinary action. According to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation COMPSTAT DAI Statistical Reports, the department tracks cell phone seizures as a contraband-related security measure.
Parole commissioners reviewed the cellphone incident directly while evaluating Wade's public safety risk. Marin County Deputy District Attorney Cassandra Edwards told commissioners that Wade still poses a risk to the public and said he had slipped back into old behavior since parole was granted. Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli said she was pleased with the rescission decision.
Wade's Defense and What Comes Next
Lum pushed back on that characterization, saying Wade has remained nonviolent and earned college degrees while incarcerated. Wade himself told the three-member parole panel that he kept improving himself and contributing to the prison community, and he completed a gun violence prevention program at San Quentin. He told the panel he was continuing to build despite an uncertain future.
A California Board of Parole Hearings report listed 8,722 scheduled parole hearings, up 14% from 7,684 in 2020, with 256, or 3%, involving people housed at an institution for women.
Wade has now been in custody for about half his life. He remains incarcerated at San Quentin, and another parole suitability hearing is tentatively scheduled for January, giving him another opportunity to seek release.
