Subject: Robbery

• CHP Aids Oakland Crime Surge

  September 10, 2007

• Gang Task Force Says They Nabbed Oakdale Mobster on $1 Million Warrant - SF Weekly has the profile

  October 10, 2007

• Last Night: ColdWarKids Make Warfield All Hot and Bothered

  November 19, 2007

• Deliveryman Murder: Too Tragic (Almost) To Take A Crack At Pizza Hut

  November 28, 2007

• Bernal Heights Robbers Work 9-5

  December 12, 2007

• Napa Wine Tour Operator Unmaksed As Highway 101 Bandit

  December 17, 2007

• Open Houses: Petty Thieves Paradise

  December 18, 2007

• Bank Robbery And Fish Smuggling: True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act

  January 17, 2008

• SF, Stop Passing Out Drunk In Your Car!

  January 28, 2008

• Examiner Has a Female Problem

  February 21, 2008

• Ingleside Police Department Has a Posse

  February 28, 2008

• Robber Knocks Over Two Marin Banks with Just His Hand

  March 5, 2008

• Robbers, San Jose Police Can Agree On One Thing

  March 28, 2008

• SF Cops Nab Dozens of Criminals in Citywide Sweep

  San Francisco Police arrested 39 fugitives on Thursday over a 12-hour period. The citywide sweep targeted high-risk parole and probation violators who were wanted for robbery, narcotics and sexual predator crimes. There were four women among those arrested. The arrests were made as a result of a coordinated effort between numerous agencies including the SFPD, San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and U.S Marshals. “Hopefull crime will go down because of these arrests,” says Sgt. Lyn Tom

  November 14, 2008

• SFPD Catches "Water Department Scammers"

  The San Francisco Police have arrested three suspects who have been posing as Water Department Personal to gain access to private homes. Once inside the home, one of the suspects would distract the resident while another searched the home for valuables. The three men are suspected of carrying out 15 such robberies over the past two months, mostly targeting Chinese households. A woman who just seen a warning about he scammers on Chinese Television, called police from her 17th Avenue home Frid

  November 17, 2008

• San Francisco Police Have Productive Weekend

  The San Francisco Police Department was busy over the weekend rounding up robbery suspects. All tolled, cops arrested nine suspects in five robberies. Of those arrested, seven were juveniles and guns were used in two of the incidents. The first arrest occurred early Saturday morning when a motorcycle cop riding down Fourth Street spotted three men assaulting a male victim. The officer was able to detain one of the suspects, 21-year-old Cristino Castillo, who was charged with robbery and conspi

  December 8, 2008

• Early Nominee for San Francisco's Vaguest Crime of 2009 (Booze and Bullets Prominently Involved)

  Robbed ... somewhere ... by somebody ... somehow. The San Francisco Police Department is often raked over the coals for its failure to solve -- or even attempt to solve -- a number of the city's crimes.But sometimes you've got to give the Boys in Blue a break. Take the following case reported at 11 p.m. on Sunday night. A 45-year-old man took a cab ride from a bar with a 21-year-old man he met there to the younger fellow's home. Once there, the 21-year-old brandished a pistol, causing the older

  March 17, 2009

• Bay Area's Last Stagecoach Robbery Commemorated By Band of Eccentrics Wearing Funny Hats

  On August 17, 1905, an unknown man wearing driving goggles on his face and feedbags over his boots leaped, screaming, from a tree and into Bay Area lore. The masked man demanded stagecoach driver Ed Campbell throw down the Wells Fargo strongbox and the mail bags before passing a hat among the coach's several passengers. He then fired his gun in the air, spooking the horses and sending the coach on its way. His haul for the day: An empty strongbox and mail bags and $4.30 from the passengers. Even

  March 30, 2009

• SFPD Claims To Nab Trio of Men Responsible For Rash of Armed Robberies

  A pair of police fficers working out of the Taraval Station pulled over a car on Saturday at 19th Avenue and Crespi and arrested a trio of men they claim are responsible for a recent series of armed and strong-arm robberies.   The rash of hold-ups had prompted an earlier San Francisco Police Department bulletin warning the general public of a trio of black men in dark hoodies robbing people in the Park Merced area with a semi-automatic handgun. That warning concluded with the missive "pleas

  April 6, 2009

• Update: Police Offer Details On How Alleged Serial Robbers Were Caught

  A trio of alleged serial robbers' distinctive red car (not this one) caught the SFPD's attentionThe trio of men police allege were responsible for a rash of late-night and early morning San Francisco robberies seem to have violated what we could call Ferris Bueller's First Law: You just can't maintain a low profile when you're zipping around in a red car. On 7:15 a.m. on Saturday, three men jumped out of a red Volkswagen four-door at Holloway and Denslowe in the early morning hours, knocked over

  April 6, 2009

• Samples

  April 17, 1996

• RAT Entrap

  Police are luring the homeless into crime. Is this time well spent?

  September 17, 2008

• For the Love of Tomatoes

  September 3, 2008

• Robbers on High Street steal from the NY sound

  January 24, 2007

• A Gem of a Caper

  Bags of jewels stolen. Two brothers in custody. The store owner implicated. Who done it?

  April 26, 2006

• Let It Bleed

  Prosecutors' reluctance to charge murder suspects in S.F. leaves alleged killers on the street, flush with bravado

  January 18, 2006

• Myth Interpretation

  Two thieves, six actors, and one enduring Mission District legend

  November 9, 2005

• Robbers on High Street

  Tree City

  February 23, 2005

• What About Patty?

  November 24, 2004

• Case Study: Christopher Taylor

  Taylor's lawyer was suspended from practicing during the robbery trial.

  October 29, 2003

• Suggested Pirate Reading

  March 12, 2003

• The Perfect Crime

  For 20 years, South American thieves have been stealing millions of dollars in gems and jewelry from traveling salespeople in San Francisco. And no one -- not the cops, jewelers, or insurance companies -- has the slightest idea how to stop them.

  May 8, 2002

• South to the Future

  Caught Unawares: Mobile Phones Linked to Violent Crime

  January 12, 2000

• Mail-Order Bandits

  March 25, 1998

• Will the Soul-Jacker Go Free?

  State prosecutions against alleged gang assassin appear to disintegrate

  May 21, 1997

• The Grid

  January 22, 1997

• Samples

  June 14, 1995

• Pretty Bad Girls

  April 29, 2009

• Laptop Stolen? The Police Might Just Have Found Your Man.

  If you're reading this blog post on a brand new laptop screen because your last one was jacked, read on.Five times between March 31st and April 8th, the crime went down like this: A Latin male suspect would stride into a coffee shop, grab an unsuspecting java drinker's laptop, and run out to an awaiting black Honda getaway car. But fear not, cyber-cafe nerds, this doesn't mean you're going to have to interact with humans anytime soon. The San Francisco Police Department says they've finally caug

  May 1, 2009

• A Murder Most Foul: Police Seek Public's Aid in Fatal Robbery

  View Larger Map The San Francisco Police Department has turned to the general public for any leads in solving an April robbery in SoMa that left a 63-year-old woman dead. On April 10 in front of 680 Folsom Street, an unknown man robbed Helen Canafax, described by police as "a popular and generous woman who often gave money to the homeless." During the altercation, she was knocked to the pavement; she later suffered an embolism and died several weeks later. Helen CanafaxThe suspect fled across t

  May 12, 2009

• SFPD Homicide Inspector Has 'Fingers Crossed' That Suspect He Nabbed For Unrelated Felony Is Man Behind Fatal SOMA Mugging

  Helen CanafaxHomicide Inspector Richard Martin told SF Weekly that he's hopeful a man he arrested on May 7 on an outstanding felony warrant could be the mugger police are seeking behind last month's fatal purse snatching of 63-year-old Helen Canafax -- but more witnesses could be needed to prove the allegations. Canafax was robbed and knocked to the ground by a 35-to-40-year-old black male assailant on April 10, breaking her hip. Earlier this month she died of a pulmonary embolism possibly relat

  May 13, 2009

• Trial by Fire

  May 27, 2009

• Man Beaten, Gnawed By Four Robbers -- Who Filch His Sweatshirt

  If you wear a sweatshirt like this, the SFPD cannot guarantee your safetyLike "stupid and clever" the line between "heroism and foolishness" is often very fine. A San Francisco man can ponder that after he chose to fight off a quartet of would-be robbers Tuesday morning and lost his shirt -- literally. Police responded to the 2:13 a.m. call on the 4700 block of Mission and met with a man who "had several bruises and what appeared to be human bite marks." The man told officers he was walking home

  June 25, 2009

• Rock On: Is Simplistic Smash 'n' Grab Robber Menacing Chinatown Again?

  The 'River Rock Burglar,' portrayed here by Billy Joel, has hit five San Francisco stores in the past two weeksIn the annals of criminality, there are numerous men and women who have earned dubious distinctions via decisions such as wearing paraphernalia emblazoned with their names or places of business during a robbery, or tripping on oversize, sagging jeans while fleeing from the cops. In San Francisco, however, special mention is reserved for Chinatown's "River Rock Burglar," whom police beli

  July 15, 2009

• L-Taraval Thief Gives Advanced Course on How to Not Be a Successful Criminal

  Being overly specific when telling the cops what you didn't do is one hell of a giveaway...I've told this story before on this page, but, you know, it warrants repeating: When I was about two or so, my younger cousin and I were playing in a broom closet. My aunt opened the door -- and boy was she pissed. My cousin had crapped his pants. Immediately he said, "Joe did it! Joe did it!" My aunt replied, "If Joe did it, why is it in your pants?" Which leads to the corralling of a brazen thief on t

  July 15, 2009

• SFPD: River Rock Burglar Suspects Arrested

   A pair of men police blame for a rash of smash 'n' grab robberies in the Chinatown/North Beach area were arrested early this morning by plainclothes officers. Nicknamed the "River Rock Burglar" because of his continued use of smooth, cobblestone-like rocks to smash store windows, the alleged thieves are accused of at least seven burglaries since early July. Police suspected a man who had been convicted of at least 13 similar "river rock burglaries" during two separate crime sprees over the

  July 23, 2009

• Details Still Sketchy on Sunday Home-Invasion Robbery -- That May *Not* Have Been a Robbery at What May Not Have Been a Home

  View Larger Map In order to have a home-invasion robbery, you need a home, an invasion, and a robbery. It's still unclear if any of those three were involved in a dicey situation yesterday evening that involved a SWAT team and a number of San Francisco cops surrounding a structure in the 1500 block of Newhall and detaining those who attempted to flee through the backyard. More than 12 hours after 911 calls reported the potential home-invasion robbery, details are still murky. First of all, t

  August 10, 2009

• Update: Have Fun Storming 'The Castle.' Weekend Home-Invasion Robbery Was at Infamous Bayview Site With Self-Evident Nickname; Arrests Made.

  View Larger Map Earlier this morning, we wrote about a weekend home-invasion robbery that may have lacked the home, invasion, or robbery. Police have called back and given us a few details to fill in the blanks. As to whether the building in question was a residence or "social club," this is explained by the fact the site of Sunday evening's police standoff was "The Castle," a home hosting a pinball machine and pool table "social club" in its basement according to its owner, and a gambling den,

  August 10, 2009

• Botched Burglaries: Papa Does Not Have a Brand New Bag

  ​ You'd think purse-snatching is a relatively simple crime to carry out: See purse, snatch purse. Not so. From the Central Station Police newsletter come a pair of stories illustrating how difficult snatching purses can be. Last week, a 28-year-old woman was accosted by a 19-year-old man, and his two female sidekicks. He grabbed the woman's purse and tried to take it. Unfortunately for the suspect, the woman he encountered was not to be easily parted from her bag. A "tug of war ensued," which

  August 25, 2009

• Bronson

  October 28, 2009