DA charges Louis Vuitton looters with felonies as he faces criticism

Critics are pointing fingers at San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin following the mass looting of a Louis Vuitton store in Union Square, blaming his policies for not deterring crime as he faces a recall vote next June.

On Tuesday, Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall spokeswoman Julie Edwards responded to the criticism in an emailed statement, “It’s simply ridiculous to blame any one DA for criminal acts impacting cities throughout the region and the nation.”

But Safer SF without Boudin, the organization behind the Boudin recall effort, said in a tweet, “When the San Francisco Police turns over evidence to the San Francisco district attorney’s office nothing happens. Chesa does not prosecute. When there is no deterrence, the same offenders continue to commit the same crimes. San Franciscans are victims of this vicious cycle, as we saw over the weekend in Union Square.”

“There must be consequences. Offenders must be held accountable. Chesa must be held accountable,” the tweet added. The group did not respond to requests for further answers to questions.

Edwards said in her email, “Here are the facts: DA Boudin’s prosecution rates for larceny in 2021 are comparable to his predecessor in 2019 ... just last week his office led an investigation that apprehended a prolific thief responsible for over 100 thefts. He has made clear his top priorities are safety and fair justice for all San Franciscans.”

Boudin’s predecessor was George Gascón, who faces a recall effort in Los Angeles County, where his policies have received the same criticism, and where similar mass looting took place this week. Unlike Boudin, whose recall has been certified, the effort against Gascón is still collecting signatures.

Greg Risling, a spokesman for Gascón, said Tuesday the police had not presented a case against three arrested suspects and did not comment on what charges they might face.

On Tuesday, Boudin followed through on promises he made over the weekend via Twitter regarding filing felony charges against nine suspects in the brazen Louis Vuitton robbery that was estimated to have involved 20 to 40 people, according to the DA. Other stores in the Bay Area, including Nordstrom’s in Walnut Creek, and in San Jose, were also hit by waves of looters.

“These brazen acts will not be tolerated in San Francisco,” Boudin said in a statement. “But the problem is bigger than our city. Other Bay Area prosecutors and I have been collaborating to share information and develop strategies to combat these coordinated incidents. We have filed felony charges in every single arrest related to these incidents, and we are working with SFPD to identify others involved so we can hold them accountable. Our office is also committed to dismantling the fencing networks that make this type of crime profitable.”

Greg Totten, executive director of the 56-member California District Attorneys Association said Tuesday, “From my perspective, these brazen thefts are not happenstance.”

Stating he did not want to comment on Boudin, Totten said, “These really orchestrated and executed crimes against retail operators are in my judgment fueled by a perception among criminals that there’s little to no consequences for theft,” Totten said. “And that’s the perception unfortunately, that has a strong basis in fact, from very low bail levels to a wholesale reduction in criminal consequences for property crime.”

“Part of the problem is this hell bent effort to focus on criminals first, victims last,” he said.

Cristine Soto DeBerry, executive director of the four-member Prosecutor Alliance, which includes Boudin and Gascón, said evidence does not support that Boudin’s policies are responsible for the San Francisco looting.

“Over the past 10 years, as we were re-imagining how we wanted to approach public safety in this state, we saw crime rates decrease right along with it. The thing that is different in the past year and a half is we have as a country experienced a pandemic and mandatory quarantines that have severely reduced people’s opportunities to work, to be able to take care of themselves and their families,” she said. “We frequently see that when there is an economic downturn that people in those situations do often resort to criminal activity. It isn’t really about tough consequences or different approaches to how we intervene in criminal activity that dictates whether somebody will make a decision to engage in a theft.”

Soto DeBerry added her belief that most criminals are not thinking about their punishment when they are committing a crime. If that were the case, she said, “we would have achieved our results a long time ago with the exceptionally harsh punishment structure we have had in place for four decades.”

“The individuals that are involved in that kind of activity are not doing research online to figure out who the district attorney is and where the most optimal place to commit a crime is. That is just not how criminal activity works,” she stated.

Totten stated some policymakers and legislators are expressing outrage regarding the looting but, “they’re the last ones who should be surprised by the conduct because they have aided and abetted it through the reckless legislation they approved.”

Totten pointed out legislation like Proposition 47, a law passed in 2014 that reclassified thefts of property less than $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.

“Some of the reform has been good, like reform that helps the mentally ill that get enmeshed in the criminal justice system, reforms that address injustice,” Totten said. “We wholeheartedly support that, but the reforms that are weakening the consequences for crime are fueling this along with the state’s wholesale release of inmates early. ... You can’t rehabilitate somebody, when you don’t even have them serve out their sentence.”

David Levine, procedure expert and professor at UC Hastings Law, agreed with others that these mass looting crimes incidents are bigger than just San Francisco.

“It seems to me that something else was going on because if it were one incident, if it were Louis Vuitton and nothing else then you could say, ‘Oh, there’s something going on in San Francisco,” Levine said. “But, its in Walnut Creek, San Jose, Los Angeles. No matter how powerful you think the DA in San Francisco is, he doesn’t have jurisdiction over all those places.”

Levine also disagreed that Proposition 47 is to blame for the rise in looting, shoplifting and smash and grab crimes.

“No. 1, that was in 2014 and last I checked it’s 2021. And the other issue is that these crimes are taking a whole lot more than $950 worth of stuff. So I don’t see that as the cause, either,” he said, adding these crimes are not petty thefts, but rather organized mob attacks.

Levine said such crimes are a nationwide phenomenon and are linked to the disruption and changes COVID created and the uptick in crime nationally.

“You just can’t say these mobs are only picking on places where they think the justice system will be lenient. I think they’re doing it because they think they can get it done before the cops come. They’re not thinking about the next step down the line,” Levine said. He said the looting is a policing problem at the moment until arrests are made; then prosecutors should be as tough as possible.