San Francisco County

Open to Interpretation: Court Interpreters Hold the Fate of Justice in Their Mouths

DA Drops Charges Against Mark Anthony Cassell, Man Accused of Killing Newspaper Vendor

The District Attorney's Office has dropped charges against the man accused of pushing down 77-year-old Dallas Ayers and killing him. DA Spokesman Alex Bastian told us that the case has been discharged, but inspectors are still actively investigating the incident. "Inspectors are in the process o ... More >>

Mark Anthony Cassell Accused of Killing Elderly Newspaper Vendor in Downtown S.F.

San Francisco police announced that they arrested someone in connection to the murder of 77-year-old Dallas Ayers. Last night, police said they arrested 36-year-old Mark Anthony Cassell in San Francisco on March after cops at the Tenderloin Police Station recognized Cassell through a crime bullet ... More >>

Carnell Taylor Jr. Arrested in Connection to Japantown Murder

San Francisco police say they have nabbed the man who they believe shot and killed 26-year-old Jamal Gaines last month. On Jan 30, at approximately 11 p.m., homicide investigators arrested, 24-year-old Carnell Taylor Jr. on the 700 block of Pacific Street. He was booked into San Francisco County J ... More >>

Heidi Heidelberg, SF Mom, Arrested After Teen Daughter Found Dead on Sidewalk

San Francisco police arrested the mother of 16-year-old Jaynice Johnson who collapsed and died on the sidewalk in the city's Bayview neighborhood Sunday afternoon. According to police, 46-year-old Heidi Heidelberg was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment causing injury or death. She's ... More >>

S.F. Jury Resolves Drunken Lover's Quarrel at Local Bus Station

A San Francisco jury decided that a local woman was not guilty of domestic violence when she struggled to get her drunk boyfriend to board a Greyhound bus bound for Sacramento. On Oct. 4, 37-year-old Maletina Letele, a Sacramento resident, was arrested at San Francisco's Transbay Terminal on suspi ... More >>

Cops Bust Four Men Suspected of Child Pornography

Police arrested four people this morning during a multi-agency sting targeting suspected child pornographers in four San Francisco neighborhoods, including SOMA, the Excelsior, Ocean View, and Visitacion Valley. According to police, more than 100 officers from 23 agencies worked to serve search wa ... More >>

Keith Smith Accused of Murdering Jonathan Bullock

San Francisco police on Thursday arrested 23-year-old Keith Smith on suspicion of shooting Jonathan Bullock to death in Lower Pac Heights. Police said homicide investigators "developed information" that led them to Smith, a San Francisco resident. He was arrested at 19th and Alabama streets just fiv ... More >>

Sex Offender Who Escaped From Mental Health Facility Found Panhandling in S.F.

A San Mateo County sex offender is in jail today after he escaped from a Mental Health facility Friday and made his way to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf where he was reportedly seen panhandling. Derrick Sanders, 34, was reported missing from the Cordilleras Mental Health Facility around 4 a.m. o ... More >>

DA to Charge Irving Sanchez, Guy Accused of Stealing 100-Plus Bikes

Cyclists everywhere will be happy to read that the guy who may have stolen their bike is now being hit with charges. Tomorrow, the District Attorney's Office says it will announce the charges against 18-year-old Irving Sanchez who was found with 100-plus stolen bicycles this summer. A warrant led po ... More >>

Larry Brinkin, S.F. Gay Rights Icon, Arrested on Child Porn Charges

(Update 3:30 p.m.): SF Weekly has obtained the search warrant, which details the items police seized from Brinkin and his husband's home. Those items include computers, videos, VHS tapes, and a floppy disc. Read details of the search warrant after the jumpOriginal story: Police say they ar ... More >>

Lupe Mercado, Barry Gilton Accused of Murdering Calvin Sneed

San Francisco police arrested two men in connection with the death of 22-year-old Calvin Sneed who was shot as he drove through the Bayview last week.According to Sgt. Michael Andraychak, Lupe Mercado, 37, and Barry Gilton, 38, both of San Francisco, were arrested on Friday on suspicion of homicide. ... More >>

Elderly Woman in Serious Condition After Being Hit by Alleged Drunk Driver

An 80-year-old woman is clinging to life today after she was hit by a drunk driver late last night in the city's Cow Hollow neighborhood. According to Officer Albie Esparza, the woman was crossing the street at Van Ness and Vallejo streets at about 11:40 p.m.when a black four-door sedan hi ... More >>

Kenneth Chappell, Curtis Cail Accused of Murdering James Earl Lee

Police arrested two men in connection with the May 11 homicide of 54-year-old Jame Earl Lee who was shot in the Western Addition. According to police, Lee was outside the 1100 block of Turk Street at 9 p.m. when he and an unidentified woman were shot. When police arrived they found both victims on ... More >>

Elderly Woman Carjacked in Financial District, Two Arrested

Two men led police on a high-speed chase across the Bay Bridge after carjacking an elderly woman in the city's Financial District. Officer Albie Esparza says the 83-year-old woman was parked in her van on the corner of Battery and Washington streets at about 1:40 a.m. when two men approached her and ... More >>

Anthony Lacayo Arrested in Shooting Death of Ronald Monzon

Police have arrested a 19-year-old San Francisco man for allegedly murdering 40-year-old Ronald Monzon back in March. Anthony Lacayo was taken into custody yesterday afternoon at 850 Bryant Street and booked into San Francisco County Jail on murder charges. Police would not release his booking photo ... More >>

Jeremy Brinker Is Second Man Arrested in Golden Gate Park Murder of Robert Musial

San Francisco police say they have arrested a second man in the April 27 slaying of 55-year-old Robert Musial.Sgt. Michael Andraychak tells us that they booked 33-year-old Jeremy Brinker in Weed, Calif., and charged him with homicide, conspiracy, robbery, and two counts of assault with a deadly weap ... More >>

Robert Musial, Man Found Dead in Golden Gate Park, Was Robbed, Beaten

Police say they caught the person who they believe killed Robert Musial, the San Francisco man who was found mysteriously dead in Golden Gate Park on Friday evening. The Examiner reports this morning that 23-year-old Marcus Herrera, a Santa Ana resident, was arrested while riding a Muni bus Sunday m ... More >>

Man Critically Beaten as He Showers at Home

This is not exactly what you'd call an arousing shower scene. A 32-year-old man was brutally beaten as he bathed yesterday morning at his home in the Bayview. Police say 22-year-old De Angelo Winston broke into the victim's home on the 1100 block of Ingerson Avenue just before 8:30 a.m., where he ru ... More >>

S.F. Not the Welfare State of Conservative Nightmares, New York Times Finds

​San Francisco is a favorite punching bag of right-wing provocateurs who decry it as a West Coast bastion of European-style socialism. (Whatever that might be.) Sadly, even some of our city's local journalists buy into the pat image of San Francisco as a cautionary tale of the excesses of expansiv ... More >>

Four Men Accused of Ripping Off Apple Electronics from FedEx Trucks

​Police are saying they have nabbed a ring of serial Apple thieves who allegedly have been swiping massive amounts of high-end electronics as they are being delivered to Apple stores across San Francisco Police arrested 52-year-old Jose Reyes, 45-year-old Victor Morales, 55-year-old Angel Erazo, a ... More >>

Pedro Zaldana-Ortiz Accused of Killing Nelson Henriquez During Argument

​Police say they have arrested Pedro Zaldana-Ortiz on suspicion of stabbing to death 25-year-old Nelson Henriquez during an argument in the Outer Mission last week. According to Sgt. Daryl Fong, homicide investigators located Zaldana-Ortiz on Sunday on the 1000 block of South Van Ness. He was take ... More >>

Employee Allegedly Robs Own Store, Forgets Surveillance Camera Is on

Some people just don't make enough time for a square meal ​Here's a good one for dumbcrooks.comA woman working at a commercial store on the 2700 block of Mission Street had the brilliant idea of staging a fake robbery inside her own store. But her brilliance was quickly eclipsed by her idiocy when ... More >>

Drunk Man Uses Fork to Stab Other Drunk Man on Muni Bus

​Anyone who has ever boarded a Muni bus already knows the great risks that come with riding. You will likely at some point get your iPhone snatched right out of your hands, or perhaps you might get stabbed or shot. Even worse, you might wind up sitting next to a dude jerking off. Nevertheless, it' ... More >>

James Holland, former Tenderloin Housing Clinic Employee, Accused of Embezzlement

Courtesy of SFPPDJames Holland ​Police arrested 41-year-old James Eugene Holland for allegedly stealing money from a local nonprofit that helped to house low-income residents.  Holland was the Director of Property Management at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in 2009 when he reportedly embezzle ... More >>

Remembering Don Casper, a City Official Who Saved Taxpayers Billions

Mark Lugo, Picasso Theft Suspect, Says Incident Is "Blown Out of Proportion"

SFPDtete de shame? ​SF Examiner scored a jailhouse interview with the suspected Picasso thief, Mark Lugo, who was arrested yesterday on suspicion of ripping an original drawing from the wall of a Union Square art gallery. Not to our surprise, Lugo doesn't talk about the case or his defense, but he ... More >>

Gov. Jerry Brown Ready to Send State Prisoners to County Jails

Gov. Brown is dumping prisoners in your hometown ​Last month, SF Weekly told readers about a Supreme Court decision to force California to cut its inmate population -- drastically. Today, Gov. Jerry Brown told the courts that he has the perfect plan in mind: Shift state prisoners to county jails.A ... More >>

Douglas Cabrera Turns Himself In for 1995 Double Murder

Sixteen years later ... ​More than 15 years after the killing of Vincent Betancourt and his nephew, Ruben Solis, a man turned himself in to police this week, claiming responsibility for the shootings. Police arrested 33-year-old Douglas Cabrera on suspicion of shooting the 31-year-old Betancourt a ... More >>

Roomate Arrested in Connection with 'Brutal' Killing of Jack Baker; Homicide No. 13

Homicide confirmed ​Police said they have arrested a man who allegedly stabbed 67-year-old Jack Baker to death last week. Police have issued an arrest warrant for Waheed Kesmatyer, 24, who is currently in custody in Marin County Jail on unrelated charges. Kesmatyer is awaiting extradition to San F ... More >>

Almon J. Johnson Accused of Killing Woman Found in Burning Car

Almon J. Johnson​San Francisco Police arrested Almon J. Johnson, 29, on suspicion of murdering a woman and leaving her body in a burning car that was found in the Lower Haight Sunday morning.Police held a press conference on Tuesday where they said Johnson allegedly killed Vanessa Herrera. He was ... More >>

Free and Five Party, Writers With Drinks, Gestapo Khazi, The Babies, and No Pants BART Ride

The Babies plays Hemlock Tavern this Saturday ​There is heavy metal and ethereal ambient noise, transsexual fashion shows and fancy vintage paper, Go-Gos and Babies. It's all here this weekend, in San Francisco, for less than the cost of taking a heterosexual date to Chick-fil-A. Here's our list o ... More >>

Phillip Trettin, Accused Bank Robber, Caught With 'Bag of Cash' In Hand

​Woody Allen's seminal movie on bank robbery, readers may recall, was titled Take the Money and Run. It's a decent bet Phillip Trettin never saw that film. He's charged with taking the money. But he forgot to run. The accused bank robber apparently made a very leisurely getaway. Right as he was ex ... More >>

San Francisco Unemployment Picture Grows Less Awful

Times are tough in San Francisco. But they're not Joad Family tough. ​By all measures, San Francisco's job market had a damn good run between September and October. Of course, this is the equivalent of a gambler, deep in the hole, winning a single hand. But you take what you can get. Per figures j ... More >>

SF Jails Wrong Luke Smith For 11 Days, Lawsuit Claims

They all look the same to me...​In an apparent jailhouse version of babies accidentally switched at the hospital, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department allegedly switched identification numbers of two Luke Smiths who happened to be in jail at the same time last May, according to a new lawsuit. Th ... More >>

Magic Kids, ZineFest, Prince vs. Michael, Doin' It in the Park, and More

Magic Kids plays Bottom of the Hill this Sunday​It's Labor Day! Meaning: an extra day to your weekend, 10 percent more texts than usual and even more chances to nurse epic hangovers. Have fun San Francisco, you deserve it. Here's our list of fun things to do this weekend for less than a ticket to ... More >>

Teens Disable, Tag Muni Bus; Onlooker Detains Two of Them

​Apparently, so-called graffiti "artists" are getting bolder. In broad daylight on Wednesday, a pack of seven or eight teens in black hoodies  pulled the cable off the line of a Muni bus at Mission and Trumbull streets, according to a police report, and proceeded to tag it up with purple mark ... More >>

Got Stress? List of Most and Least 'Stressed' Counties Updated -- S.F. Makes Neither.

Dorothea LangeYes, San Francisco's economic 'stress levels' have been worse...​If you needed a statistical analysis to back up your gut feeling, here it is: San Francisco ain't such a bad place to be. At least that's what the Associated Press' Economic Stress Index reported on Monday. The index -- ... More >>

Man Accused of Showing His Junk at the Library -- and Possibly Elsewhere

SFPD​While studying in the San Francisco Main Library last Friday afternoon, a 14-year-old girl noticed that the man next to her had allegedly exposed himself. Disturbed, she immediately contacted security and soon the San Francisco Police Department  was arresting Marty Jeffrey, a 28- ... More >>

On Christmas Day, Man Pretends to Be Cop Then Sexually Assaults Prostitute

​Around noon on December 25, the SFPD got a call from a prosititute who said she was assaulted by a man who said he was a cop. She described the man -- a 5'7, 195-pound, balding African-American -- and the 1993 Isuzu Rodeo he was driving, which the cops soon learned was re ... More >>

Police, U.S. Marshals Nab S.F. Homicide Suspect on Eastern Seaboard

The SFPD has found its man -- but who will find the municipality of 'Delaware, Maryland'?​Are San Francisco cops trying to put a good foot forward now that new Police Chief George Gascon is in town and vowing to improve the city's poor murder clearance rate? One could be forgiven that impression w ... More >>

SFPD's shadow disciplinary system wastes taxpayer money

Schwarzenegger Proposal Could Burden Underfunded S.F. Jails

Be sure to wear a flower in your hairThis week has seen California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger scrounging for a few billion dollars beneath the sofa cushions after his stop-gap measures for narrowing the state's budget shortfall went down to defeat in Tuesday's special election. Among the consequence ... More >>

Activists Say SFPD is Trashing City ID Cards

Pretty fancy 'garbage'Neighborhood activists complained to supervisors today that San Francisco police officers are showing "disrespect" for people holding the municipal identification cards the city began distributing in January -- including one alleged incident where an officer in the Tenderloin ... More >>

Dumping Improper Crap in an Outhouse Is a Federal Offense. Burning 21 of Them Is Not

Certainly it's caught your eye -- the ubiquitous notice in most outhouses that "dumping hazardous materials" down the loo is a federal offense. When juxtaposed with the interior of a porta-john, the verb "dumping" and the notion of "hazardous materials" have definitely inspired their share of laughs ... More >>

Breaking News -- Bonds' beneficent visitor apparently a wild 'n crazy former soccer star

Tar and Feathers

Ecological disaster inspires fine art

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