San Francisco’s district legal professional spoke out in obvious protection of a ‘prolific’ shoplifter who was filmed openly robbing a Walgreens retailer amid fierce criticism of town’s crime insurance policies.
Chesa Boudin, district legal professional since 2019, was requested a few viral video from June 19 exhibiting the thief man heaping armfuls of Walgreens merchandise right into a trash bag, then driving his bike by way of the shop with the stolen items whereas the safety guard and bystanders seemed on.
The broad daylight theft occurred at a Walgreens on 300 Gough Avenue, within the Hayes Valley space of San Francisco, on June 14.
The suspect, Jean Lugo-Romero, 40, was arrested on June 19 and stays in jail.
He had beforehand robbed the identical retailer on Might 29, 30, 31 and June 1, however Walgreens declined to prosecute, Boudin mentioned.
‘Once I watch that video, I take into consideration 5 questions that persons are not asking that I feel they need to,’ Boudin advised The New Yorker.
‘Is he drug addicted, mentally sick, determined? Is he a part of a serious retail fencing operation?
‘What’s driving this conduct and is it in any method consultant, as a result of it was offered as one thing symptomatic?’
Chesa Boudin, pictured outdoors his workplace in January 2020. In an interview with The New Yorker Boudin mentioned he was within the story behind the person who carried out a collection of thefts in a San Francisco Walgreens
In a Twitter video posted by ABC7 Reporter Lyanne Melendez, a person is seen nonchalantly shoplifting from a Walgreens in San Francisco as a bystander and safety guard watch
The person rode his bike to the shop, stuffed a rubbish bag with stolen items and rode away
Ahsha Safaí, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, shared in a tweet his disgust with skyrocketing crime in San Francisco
Boudin, elected on an ultra-progressive ticket, mentioned that maybe Walgreens had a coverage of not confronting shoplifters.
The safety guard confronted criticism on-line for failing to behave, though some folks mentioned he did the correct factor by making his presence recognized and filming him moderately than confronting him bodily.
‘If Walgreens has insurance coverage for sure items or they anticipate a certain quantity of loss, if they might moderately not danger lawsuits or escalation to violence – then perhaps that is one thing we should always find out about,’ mentioned Boudin.
He advised the journal that the police make arrests in simply two-and-a-half per cent of reported thefts.
‘Possibly that is an excellent factor – perhaps which means they’re prioritizing murders,’ Boudin mentioned.
‘However when this explicit particular person was arrested, and we acquired the total police historical past, it turned out that he had been detained by the police beforehand after one other Walgreens incident, and so they did not arrest him as a result of Walgreens had mentioned they didn’t need to press fees in that prior case.
‘The police had recognized who he was for months.’
The supervisor of the Walgreens retailer that Lugo-Romero raided, Bonnie Wong, advised DailyMail.com she could not touch upon Boudin’s remarks. Walgreens is but to answer DailyMail.com’s request for remark.
Boudin mentioned that official information confirmed that over-all theft was down from the earlier yr.
But town has in current months seen a spree of high-profile thefts.
Earlier this month, video emerged on social media exhibiting shoplifters openly making off with stolen items after ransacking a neighborhood Neiman Marcus retailer within the Union Sq. part of town.
At the very least 10 persons are seen within the video with armfuls of designer items after which fleeing the luxurious division retailer Neiman Marcus – with out anybody attempting to cease them.
The footage reveals the shoplifters leaving the Union Sq. retailer, every carrying baggage of stolen objects with the safety tags nonetheless dangling off of them.
A video posted to Instagram captures the second not less than 10 folks stole a great deal of designer baggage from Neiman Marcus in San Francisco and fled undeterred
Police are nonetheless investigating the incident and the suspects had been already gone by the point they arrived
Shoplifting instances are all too widespread in San Francisco, the place fees of property theft lower than $950 in worth was downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor in 2014
Witnesses advised KTVU that the shop was about to shut when the suspects got here in and smashed show instances earlier than nabbing the products and leaving
The perpetrators then ran in numerous instructions, with a couple of rushing away from the scene in a white sedan.
One particular person watching says: ‘They can not do something,’ maybe referring to safety at Neiman Marcus.
Authorities mentioned that an estimated tens of 1000’s of {dollars} value of things had been stolen.
The one who posted the video wrote a message demanding San Francisco crackdown on shoplifters and known as for Boudin to be faraway from workplace.
‘Everybody within the metropolis is bored with this so please signal the recall petition to oust Chesa Boudin now!’ wrote Instagram consumer sfstreets415, whose bio reads: Asian photographer and crime reporter.
‘Crime is authorized principally and allowed and tolerated because of insurance policies put in place and supported by all our supervisors and mayor and DA.’
Walgreens spends 35 instances extra on safety guards within the metropolis than elsewhere, Jason Cunningham, regional vice chairman for pharmacy and retail operations in California and Hawaii, mentioned at a listening to in Might.
The listening to on retail crimes was organized by Ahsha Safaí, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with Boudin, retailers, police and probation departments.
Walgreens has closed 17 San Francisco shops, and theft within the pharmaceutical chain’s 53 remaining shops is 4 instances the typical for shops elsewhere within the nation, in response to the San Francisco Chronicle.
One Walgreens reportedly loses $1,000 a day to shoplifters, the information outlet reported.
A Change.org petition was launched in March to maintain one of many Walgreens on Bush and Larkin streets open, but it surely ended up closing anyway.
‘This has turn into a lifeline for a lot of seniors, folks with disabilities, and low earnings residents who can not go additional out to different shops to get what they want,’ wrote Rusty Everclear, who began the petition that acquired 257 signatures.
Throughout town, 18 Walgreens shops noticed 94 shoplifting incidents between September 1 and December 31, 2020, in response to information compiled by the San Francisco Police Division and obtained by information outlet Mission Native.
Larceny is the commonest crime dedicated within the Bay Space, in response to the San Francisco Police Division’s Crime Dashboard
Larceny is the commonest crime dedicated within the Bay Space, in response to the San Francisco Police Division’s Crime Dashboard.
There have been 12,925 cases in 2020 and 11,062 cases in 2021 to this point, as in comparison with the following highest crime – housebreaking – of which there have been 3,141 cases in 2020 and three,366 in 2021 to this point.
Larceny is outlined by the division as together with ‘thefts of bicycles, motorcar components and equipment, shoplifting, pocket selecting, or the stealing of any property or article that’s not taken by drive and violence or by fraud.’
Housebreaking is totally different from larceny as a result of it entails illegal trespassing to commit a criminal offense.
Based on a Walgreens worker handbook, employees who witness somebody shoplifting are advised to inform a supervisor and ‘by no means accuse an individual of shoplifting or stealing’.
The handbook additionally states: ‘Do not try and confront or cease a shoplifter or attempt to comply with her or him out of the shop.’
‘In lots of instances, police do not write an incident report, as a result of the suspect has already left the scene,’ mentioned Matthew Donahue, an assistant district legal professional within the San Francisco District Lawyer’s Workplace, to the Mission Native.
Boudin denied that he was reluctant to prosecute.
‘I am a trial lawyer. In fact I need to go to court docket!’ he advised The New Yorker.
‘From a public political standpoint, what issues extra is the ups and downs and if folks really feel much less protected.
‘It would not matter that crime is down. Individuals really feel much less protected. They need to really feel protected.’
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