.....organized theft......a lot of money.....higher than chain average.....


Walgreens to Close 5 Stores in San Francisco, Citing ‘Organized’ Shoplifting

One of the stores was targeted at least five times by the same man, who drew widespread attention for raiding the store on a bike and was later arrested, the authorities said.

.....A security guard and a television reporter were recording him, but the thief was undeterred, raiding a Walgreens store in San Francisco on a bicycle, a garbage bag in hand filled with stolen merchandise.

Millions watched a video of the brazen shoplifting in June, which critics said illustrated the epidemic of store thefts that had bedeviled retailers across the city. It was at least the fifth time that the man, who was later arrested on a raft of burglary and theft charges, had targeted that particular Walgreens store, on Gough Street in the Hayes Valley neighborhood, the authorities said.

Now, four months later, Walgreens says it will close that store and four others in San Francisco next month, citing what it described as a continuing problem of “organized” shoplifting in the city.

“Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco,” Phil Caruso, a spokesman for Walgreens, said in an email on Wednesday. “Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average.”

Walgreens said its San Francisco stores had been targeted by professional thieves who resell the goods they steal, mainly through online marketplaces. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that law enforcement officials have attributed much of the city’s retail crime to organized theft rings.

In addition to the store at 300 Gough Street, the Walgreens locations that are closing are at 2550 Ocean Avenue; 4645 Mission Street; 745 Clement Street; and 3400 Cesar Chavez Street, the company said.

Walgreens representatives previously said at a board of supervisors hearing in May that it had closed 17 stores, largely because thefts had made doing business at those locations untenable.

Ahsha Safaí, a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors, said on Twitter on Tuesday that the closure of the Walgreens store at 4645 Mission Street would leave a tremendous void.

“I am completely devastated by this news — this Walgreens is less than a mile from seven schools and has been a staple for seniors, families and children for decades,” Mr. Safaí said. The city, he added, “needs to act with a sense of urgency to reduce and deter the number of incidents of commercial retail theft.”

Walgreens said it had increased its “investments in security measures” at its San Francisco stores “to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”

The office of Mayor London Breed of San Francisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for Chesa Boudin, the San Francisco district attorney, said in an email on Wednesday that, in addition to prosecuting shoplifting cases, the office had been working with the California Highway Patrol and ALTO, an organization that works to address retail theft.

“Our office takes retail theft very seriously and we have taken several steps in the last year to better prevent and prosecute these crimes,” the spokeswoman, Sara Yousuf, said. “Last year, our Retail Theft Taskforce worked with law enforcement partners in an operation that led to the recovery of more than $8 million in stolen items.”

Ms. Yousuf said that the city was making progress in addressing such thefts.

“While larceny rates in San Francisco are lower than they were in 2019, District Attorney Boudin is committed to working every day to make San Francisco even safer,” she said.

A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department referred questions on the matter to Walgreens.

The closures, which are scheduled for November, will bring the number of Walgreens stores that have been shuttered in San Francisco in recent years to 22, according to the company. Walgreens has more than 50 stores in the city, The Chronicle reported.

Walgreens disclosed in an August 2019 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would be closing 200 locations in the United States as part of a cost-savings initiative.

Employees at the five San Francisco stores that are closing next month will continue to work at other Walgreens locations, and customers will have their prescriptions transferred to nearby stores, the company said.

On June 19, the San Francisco Police Department said that it had arrested the man in the shoplifting video that was recorded at the Walgreens location on Gough Street. Investigators said that they connected the man, Jean Lugo-Romero, 40, to a string of thefts from merchants in the Northern and Mission districts.

Mr. Lugo-Romero faces robbery and burglary charges in connection with five separate occasions in which he targeted the Walgreens store on Gough Street, including on four consecutive days in late May and early June, the authorities said.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Lugo-Romero had a lawyer. The San Francisco Public Defender’s office in San Francisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.


you....have....stolen....my.....********.......?!

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2021 10:28PM by NewtonMP2100.

Thanks Prop 47

The last time I visited SF I couldn’t believe how many Walgreens were there. Seemed to be one on every corner.

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JoeM

Quote
freeradical
Thanks Prop 47

In this particular instance, yeah. But there are other things it is good for.

Sadly, hard to balance the good and bad.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

I wonder if these thefts might be the answer this recent thread was looking for.

[forums.macresource.com]

Quote
Mr Downtown
One of my friends, an older international grad student who’s been kind of stranded by COVID between finishing coursework and getting a job, seems to sell a lot of drugstore items on eBay. Things like a lot of 4 bottles of shampoo for $20, 16 toothpastes for $40, 2 hairsprays for $15. He frequently mentions going to the post office or FedEx, and his seller profile shows that he has more than 200 listings, none over $150. The prices are usually a dollar or two above what Target or Amazon sell things for, so I’m not sure who the buyers are.

I’m trying to figure out what the play is here. He has a Costco membership, but I can’t believe the markup from Costco price to eBay price would even cover shipping on these items. Maybe the stuff is somehow coming out of the back door at a local Walgreen’s or CVS—I’d hate to think that of him—but I’m wondering if there’s something else going on, such as using all these small PayPal transactions to move money from his home nation. Theories?

Quote
GGD
I wonder if these thefts might be the answer this recent thread was looking for.

d4 had a good point.

No need to assume nefarious methods.

You can buy gray-market (perfectly legal, but frowned upon by manufacturers) name-brands from a dollar store. I see popular brands there pretty frequently. They're often labeled for sale in Mexico or Israel.

And as others mentioned, COVID still has some people panic-buying.

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Pretty amazing that it's only recently that this went beyond your typical criminal and was effectively promoted in some circles as 'how you get free stuff'. What was more interesting were the public officials that thought stores should just have their doors open to this kind of crime - cause people need the stuff. I am sure the same officials have their own homes unlocked and open to those that are in need of something that can be found in their homes too. Insane.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater... but wow - laser such a law in so that while driving more people to help vs. ineffective incarcerations, you don't make it easy for those that are true intended criminals... let alone those that would buy in to this is okay and rationalize when a message of the sort is put out suggesting such.

$950 minimum for a single incident for shoplifting to be taken seriously? and even as a misdemeanor - enforcement is minimal as it's a huge slap in the face of law enforcement on the arresting side already and a double slap as most let off even if arrested -

broken system. Good intentions do not mean good policies or good results. That goes for everything. So many causes that have 'feel good' - 'made a difference' - feelings.... often of negligible impact and even of truly negative real impact when really look under the hood, follow the money, etc.

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OWC Larry
Other World Computing
[www.macsales.com]

It shouldn't surprise anyone with Prop 47 making thefts like this only a misdemeanor and the SF DA outright saying they would not prosecute any of these cases.

I would not be surprised to see more businesses move out of SF entirely.

The mayor was actually quoted saying that the stores should hire more security guards, but it's not their job to enforce laws and the company instructs them to observe and report only.

Might be good for SF to elect someone as mayor who actually is in touch with reality, but that won't happen.

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Skill without imagination is craftsmanship. Imagination without skill is Modern Art.

Could go to the general store model, with everything behind the counter. Fill out an order, step up to the window.

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Acer
Could go to the general store model, with everything behind the counter. Fill out an order, step up to the window.

Like Arkwrights, Open All Hours...



btw, is SF still having the "street restroom" issues?
SF Doo-Doo Map

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What I want to ask that Mayor is; what is a security guard going to do? SF would prosecute any security guard for assault for so much as TOUCHING a shoplifter... So, the shoplifter can literally walk in, pick up an armload of stuff, and walk out - unimpeded... and he knows NOTHING will happen to him. He will not be arrested (the police are tired of the paperwork when all the DA does is not charge them with anything, and release them anyway), and he will not be charged. The store still loses.
Prop 47 was a disaster as it was written. Whatever good intentions it had have become irrelevant in light of the reality of what it actually does.

Quote
timg
It shouldn't surprise anyone with Prop 47 making thefts like this only a misdemeanor and the SF DA outright saying they would not prosecute any of these cases.

I would not be surprised to see more businesses move out of SF entirely.

The mayor was actually quoted saying that the stores should hire more security guards, but it's not their job to enforce laws and the company instructs them to observe and report only.

Might be good for SF to elect someone as mayor who actually is in touch with reality, but that won't happen.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Quote
Paul F.
What I want to ask that Mayor is; what is a security guard going to do? SF would prosecute any security guard for assault for so much as TOUCHING a shoplifter... So, the shoplifter can literally walk in, pick up an armload of stuff, and walk out - unimpeded... and he knows NOTHING will happen to him. He will not be arrested (the police are tired of the paperwork when all the DA does is not charge them with anything, and release them anyway), and he will not be charged. The store still loses.
Prop 47 was a disaster as it was written. Whatever good intentions it had have become irrelevant in light of the reality of what it actually does.

Quote
timg
It shouldn't surprise anyone with Prop 47 making thefts like this only a misdemeanor and the SF DA outright saying they would not prosecute any of these cases.

I would not be surprised to see more businesses move out of SF entirely.

The mayor was actually quoted saying that the stores should hire more security guards, but it's not their job to enforce laws and the company instructs them to observe and report only.

Might be good for SF to elect someone as mayor who actually is in touch with reality, but that won't happen.

In San Francisco, the current mayor would be considered practically right wing. It's out of her hands anyway. The police catch criminals. The police are just a part of the criminal justice system.

The police don't want to waste their time with these cases since the DA won't prosecute them.

SF criminal justice system is essentially non-existent.

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Skill without imagination is craftsmanship. Imagination without skill is Modern Art.

Quote
timg
The police don't want to waste their time with these cases since the DA won't prosecute them.

SF criminal justice system is essentially non-existent.

The rest of the state isn't far behind...

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

Quote
Paul F.

Quote
timg
The police don't want to waste their time with these cases since the DA won't prosecute them.

SF criminal justice system is essentially non-existent.

The rest of the state isn't far behind...

This is very true ...

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Skill without imagination is craftsmanship. Imagination without skill is Modern Art.

“A spokeswoman for Chesa Boudin, the San Francisco district attorney, said in an email on Wednesday that, in addition to prosecuting shoplifting cases, the office had been working with the California Highway Patrol and ALTO, an organization that works to address retail theft.

“Our office takes retail theft very seriously and we have taken several steps in the last year to better prevent and prosecute these crimes,” the spokeswoman, Sara Yousuf, said. “Last year, our Retail Theft Taskforce worked with law enforcement partners in an operation that led to the recovery of more than $8 million in stolen items.”

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

But unless they punish the thieves, it will never stop.

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“A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.” Seneca the Younger

The police have no duty to respond. See Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) or Warren v. District of Columbia[1] (444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981)

Judge Lee wrote that “we cannot jettison our constitutional rights, even if the goal behind a law is laudable." 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

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Crazy and sad how horrible these far left run cities have become. This is what happens when Shoplifting is not longer a crime. Or in Portland where last Tuesday 35 buildings were smashed and damaged, mostly broken windows and businesses wrecked.

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"No Comment"

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Racer X
But unless they punish the thieves criminals, it will never stop.

FTFY
And sadly, judges/juries can't act if DA's refuse to prosecute.
Heard a great explanation of why 'low level' crimes should be addressed
by a CJ Professor/retired FBI agent. Law enforcement needs intelligence
& information on more dangerous criminals. A reliable source of that data
happens to be prostitutes, small time street dealers, and yes even shop lifters.
There's no need to prosecute them when they prove to be a reliable "asset".

Quote
Mr645
Or in Portland where last Tuesday 35 buildings were smashed and damaged,
mostly broken windows and businesses wrecked.

Funny how 'big media' doesn't cover stories like that.
Sadly, the businesses are owned by taxpayers who will be forced to
vote with their feet.

---

39°36'17"N 75°44'43"W

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My Old Kentucky Retirement Home by MitchMcC & The Soggy Boxer Boys
Burning Down The House by Merrick & The Goons
Back In the USSR by Bernie's Red Square Trio





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2021 09:03AM by MrNoBody.

Seattle businesses are now hiring additional security and off duty police officers due to the issues that they are having.

The level of stupidity has reached an all time high. There is a segment of the population that will always misbehave. Then there is a segment that will only behave when they know that there are consequences. The last segment is those that will behave because it's the right thing to do.

Quote
Mr645
Crazy and sad how horrible these far left run cities have become. This is what happens when Shoplifting is not longer a crime. Or in Portland where last Tuesday 35 buildings were smashed and damaged, mostly broken windows and businesses wrecked.

Crazy how much money it costs to buy a home in these cities. Seems people really, really like living in them.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

If you want to drill down, it's not really a broken system as much as it is broken human beings. That this is the avenue chosen.

It's 2021, not far removed from filling up jails and prisons with that generations' broken human beings.

We're at a place where we've learned the consequences of filling up jails and prisons. Removing the convicted from any kind of opportunity or job prospects. Believing that's the solution.

There has to be a balance. Reasonable enforcement policies coupled with hopeful channels of enrichment/employment/healing for broken people.

Quote
Mr645
Crazy and sad how horrible these far left run cities have become. This is what happens when Shoplifting is not longer a crime. Or in Portland where last Tuesday 35 buildings were smashed and damaged, mostly broken windows and businesses wrecked.

Big cities worldwide have high crime, and for a legitimate comparison, what major U.S. cities even HAVE Republican mayors??

Hint; you have go down to the 12 largest, Jacksonville, Florida to find one; about 1/10 the size of New York City, and definitely NOT a shining example of low crime.
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Walgreens had previous;y announced the closing of over 200 stores in an effort to enhance earnings, seems they used spin to explain 4 closings that were going to happen anyway.

Quote
RgrF
Walgreens had previous;y announced the closing of over 200 stores in an effort to enhance earnings, seems they used spin to explain 4 closings that were going to happen anyway.

They closed 17 San Francisco stores prior to these in 2020. They didn't want to close most of those. They'll figure it out. Rite Aid pulled out about 5 years ago. Target stores in the City close at 6 pm. You have to ask the clerks to go get what you want from the back of the store. It's not on the shelves, expect for stuff thieves don't want.

Unfortunately, post-pandemic life in California is going to be very harsh to a lot of people.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2021 07:03PM by vision63.