Three arrests, two truckloads of merchandise. That was SFPD Mission Station’s tally after a February 1, 2023 stolen-goods investigation near 16th and Mission. SFist’s coverage includes the department’s photos of the haul.
A week earlier, Public Works had confiscated goods from the vendors because they couldn’t show proof of purchase, Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s aide Santiago Lerma told Mission Local. Then police got a tip that they were selling stolen merchandise again.
On February 1, undercover officers arrested three women. Lerma said officers scanned QR codes on the goods and identified items stolen from Target. SFPD said two of the women acknowledged that the merchandise was stolen. All three were cited and released, according to the police report obtained by Mission Local.
Lerma described it as a retail-theft investigation, rather than an effort to enforce street-vending permits.
You can find the police record through CAD 230321325 on SFPDCalls. Report 230076764 gives the time as 11:32 a.m. on February 1 and the anonymized location as 16th and Wiese, close to the intersection in the news coverage.
The report lists receiving or possessing stolen property and a resolution of “Cite or Arrest Adult.” It records the police action, not a court verdict.