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San Francisco police arrested a 14-year-old girl in connection with more than a dozen retail thefts totaling more than $30,000 in stolen merchandise. Investigators were looking into a string of incidents at stores in the Tenderloin District. During their investigation, they identified the teen, whose name has not been released, as a suspect.
According to police, the girl was part of a roving band of adults and youths who targeted stores on the 800 block of Market Street, which includes several upscale retailers and the struggling San Francisco Centre mall. The thefts happened between April 11 and November 24, with the suspects netting between $140 and $6,600 worth of merchandise each time. The girl was arrested as San Francisco continues to deal with surging crime and city officials try to stop the so-called ‘doom loop’ from consuming the city.
A police bulletin was sent out for the girl’s arrest for an outstanding warrant from Alameda county and in connection to the robberies. She was arrested Friday after police responded to a theft in progress at an unnamed store on Market Street. The teen was charged in connection to 15 thefts, most of which were committed alongside other people. The 14-year-old was booked on suspicion of charges including felony organized retail theft, second-degree burglary and grand theft. She is being held at the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center.
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Market Street has become a popular target for thieves. Last month, undercover San Francisco police officers busted nine looters in one night at the San Francisco Centre. The operation was part of a citywide operation that is being funded by a $15.3 million state grant aimed at combatting retail theft. The streets in the Tenderloin District are scattered with homeless tents and drug paraphernalia. Rising crime rates have prompted many businesses to withdraw from the area, despite authorities’ efforts to combat the lawlessness.
Since June, city, state and federal authorities have poured resources into the area. However, the city is on track to set a record for fatal drug overdoses this year, and 20 percent of reported drug crimes have occurred within a block of Market Street. This year, 2,651 burglaries have been logged along with 28,620 reports of larceny-theft, according to the San Francisco Police Department. This figure is down from last year, when a whopping 61,715 larceny-thefts were reported to police.
In May, luxury retailer Nordstrom announced that it would be closing all of its San Francisco stores, blaming the ‘changed dynamics’ of the city. The company’s chief merchandising officer, Jamie Nordstrom, blamed the state of the city in recent years for reducing foot traffic ‘and our ability to operate successfully.’ Just last month, San Francisco Superior Court judge named Gregg Williams of Trident Pacific Real Estate Group as receiver for the San Francisco Centre, which houses upscale retailers like Louis Vuitton and Rolex.
Williams, who founded the Newport Beach-based realty group, will be paid $30,000 a month to ‘take possession, custody and control’ of the troubled mall. Economists have cautioned that the city is spiraling into an ‘urban doom loop,’ triggered when employees withdrew from their offices during the pandemic in favor of remote work. This left downtown San Francisco relatively empty, forcing ailing businesses to shutter and making the area even less appealing. Jesse Barron, a contributing writer for the New York Times, says the ‘doom loop’ idea has persisted due to the city’s ‘multiple overlapping problems’ including a fentanyl crisis and insufficient homeless services. In the meantime, business owners wait with bated breath to hear the fate of a bill intended to reduce organized retail theft.
Assembly Bill 1708, which was introduced to the California State Assembly in February, allows shoplifting charges to be pursued as misdemeanors or felonies if the person has multiple previous offenses. Alternatively, shoplifters can be placed into a rehabilitation program with a judge’s approval. The session is currently in recess. Under the current law, theft can only be charged as a felony if the amount of goods is worth at least $950 in most cases. If AB 1708 is signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, that amount decreases to $400. The bill reverses some of the changes implemented by Proposition 47, a voter-approved initiative on the November 2014 ballot that reduced some felony theft offenses to misdemeanors. Among them were commercial burglary, petty theft with priors and possession of stolen property. Read the full story:
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