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Teen pleads not guilty in Lamborghini theft
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SAN RAFAEL  (AP) — A judge on Wednesday denied a defense request to try a Northern California teen charged with stealing celebrity chef Guy Fieri's Lamborghini separately for another crime in which he allegedly shot at a teenaged girl and her boyfriend.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Paul Haakenson sided with prosecutors, who said the vehicle theft and attempted murder charges against Max Wade, 17, are linked, the Marin Independent Journal reported (http://bit.ly/LCHbOw).

Wade pleaded not guilty to the charges at the hearing. He has been charged as an adult.

Prosecutor Yvette Martinez-Shaw said Wade drove Fieri's Lamborghini to impress a 17-year-old girl and shot at her and her boyfriend in Mill Valley on April 13 when she rejected him.

Wade is accused of stealing Fieri's yellow 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder from a San Francisco dealership in March 2011 in what authorities said was a sophisticated heist in which someone rappelled into the showroom and then drove off with the $200,000 convertible.

Investigators who had placed Wade under surveillance as part of their probe into the shooting were led to a Richmond storage facility, where they found the car along with two assault rifles and shotgun shells, cellphone-jamming equipment, a San Francisco Police Department uniform and badge and false identification cards for California, Florida and New York, according to court documents.

There, investigators also found a motorcycle and gun linked to the April 13 drive-by shooting, Marin sheriff's Detective Greg Garrett said in the documents.

Wade is being held in lieu of $2 million bail at Juvenile Hall. Haakenson set a preliminary hearing for the case for Sept. 7.

The Lamborghini, meanwhile, remains in evidence. Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Hale told the Independent Journal that Fieri has been compensated by the insurance company. The insurer will get the car once it is released by the court.