4 suspects arrested in San Francisco robbery, auto burglaries
By Carlos E. Castañeda
Four suspects were arrested in San Francisco last week after a strong-arm robbery and several auto burglaries, police said Monday.
The San Francisco Police Department released a video of the incidents and said in a press release that the crimes happened on April 1, beginning with a robbery in the Outer Sunset neighborhood on Irving Street and 23rd Avenue at about 2 p.m.
An elderly woman who was waiting at a bus stop was approached by two people, one of whom grabbed the victim’s purse, and both suspects fled in a white SUV that pulled up as the robbery was taking place, as seen in a surveillance video. Police said the woman was slightly injured but declined any medical treatment.
Officers learned from the department’s Real Time Investigation Center that the vehicle had stolen license plates and was involved in two auto burglaries near the Legion of Honor museum in Lincoln Park, police said. A police drone unit eventually located the vehicle near the Palace of Fine Arts, and the occupants were seen breaking into two other vehicles and stealing items.
The vehicle fled from the Palace of Fine Arts while being tracked by drone and tailed by plainclothes officers, police said. Officers deployed a spike strip to disable the vehicle, which subsequently was involved in three minor vehicle collisions while trying to evade police. No one was hurt in the collisions.
The vehicle became disabled at Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street, and two occupants ran from the vehicle while two others were arrested near the location. Officers chased down the other two suspects, who were seen on the drone camera climbing onto rooftops to evade capture, and eventually took them into custody.
A record check revealed that the SUV was reported stolen out of Hayward, and a search of the vehicle yielded the items stolen from the elderly victim and the three auto burglaries, police said.
The four suspects were identified as
25-year-old Charles Eason of San Francisco, 22-year-old Jamaul Mullins of Pittsburg, 18-year-old Major Skinner of Oakland, and 25-year-old Daija Bartholomew of Antioch. They were booked at San Francisco County Jail on litany of charges, including conspiracy, 2nd degree robbery, elder abuse causing injury, possession and use of a stolen vehicle, three counts of 2nd degree burglary 2nd degree, committing a felony while masked, possession of burglary tools, resisting arrest, four counts of possession of stolen property, and three counts of non-injury hit and run.
Police asked anyone with information about the crimes to contact the department.
