Burglar targeting startups in San Francisco

12 points by qq66 ↗ HN
He stole two laptops from us this morning in SOMA and looks to be part of a crime ring involved in other burglaries according to the police. Stay on the lookout and contact me (amal@getliveloop.com) if you recognize him from other burglaries. $2,500 reward for conclusive information.

His MO is to be extremely well dressed and knock on the door first, and pry the door open with a screwdriver before opening the latch with a metal card.

http://makeagif.com/i/jZ8Ibg

4 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 24.4 ms ] thread
(comment deleted)
Can you share any more details?

Where in SoMa your office is located? Rough intersection should be ok.

What time did the robberies happen?

What ethnicity is he?

8am Tuesday near South Park. Black male age 35-45. Burglaries were at 8am on Tuesday morning.
In the early days of Quantcast we had a couple robberies in our second SOMA office. Fortunately most people had taken their laptops home but we lost a few things.

The police were apologetic, said that even if we had proof and knew who it was the DA wouldn't press charges (this was 5 years ago, different DA, but I doubt the caseload has changed). The officer said to basically consider stuff in our office to be as secure as stuff left visible in a car when parked.

We asked the officer how the robber got in. His eyes lit up, he finally felt useful. He took a quick look around and in two minutes showed us how the robber had gotten in. We fixed that, and never had another breakin.

A useful lesson in how the police can actually help.