Car theft
© Reuters/Callaghan O'Hare (file photo)
An alleged vehicle thief in San Francisco has now been arrested over a dozen times in just 18 months, as the local DA, reportedly elected with funding from billionaire George Soros' associate, works to reduce incarceration.

The suspect was nabbed on Monday in the city's Tenderloin district after being spotted riding a motorcycle that had been reported stolen, San Francisco police said Wednesday on Twitter. Police called attention to the case because the unidentified suspect has repeatedly been put back on the streets despite a prolific string of alleged thefts.


Given the rampant crime in San Francisco and the fact that some cases go unreported or uninvestigated, there's no telling how many vehicles a suspect might have stolen while getting caught 13 times in just 18 months. There were more than 5,300 motor vehicle thefts reported in San Francisco in this year's first 11 months, up 33 percent from 2019, according to police data. Car burglaries are so common that over the past three years, one was broken into about every 20 minutes, on average.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was reportedly elected in 2019 with backing from a George Soros close associate Chloe Cockburn, has responded by firing veteran prosecutors and speaking out against mass incarceration and racial disparities. Boudin's own parents, who were members of the radical leftist group Weather Underground, were imprisoned for murder when he was 14 months old. His "rapid decarceration" push accelerated with the Covid-19 pandemic. San Francisco's jail population is being cut to 600 from 1,100.


Boudin banned prosecutions of so-called quality-of-life crimes, such as prostitution, public urination and blocking sidewalks. He involves himself in politics, such as campaigning to end the federal death penalty and tweeting falsehoods about President Donald Trump. For instance, Boudin quipped on Wednesday that Trump was spending his final days in office rushing executions and "being investigated for a pardon bribery scheme." The Department of Justice is investigating a bribery scheme but has said that no government official is or was a target of the probe.

When Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen who was charged with murder for shooting two people at a Kenosha, Wisconsin riot in August, was freed last month on $2 million bail, Boudin came out against decarceration. He said falsely that there's strong evidence that Rittenhouse was motivated by racial bias and lamented that "wealth sets him free."

Meanwhile, San Franciscans remain frustrated by the crime in their city. In response to the police tweet about the alleged vehicle thief, MMA fighter Jake Shields called San Francisco a "failed city." Twitchy.com editor Greg Pollowitz despaired similarly: "This city is so f**king broken. How many arrests does he get before he actually goes to prison?"


Other Twitter users also reacted to the story, with one saying he doesn't generally advocate incarceration, "but there's a place for someone who has been caught stealing vehicles 13 times in 18 months. It's jail." Another commenter saw little hope of that happening in San Francisco. "Does he get a prize for a 20th arrest?" he asked. "A cake and a parade?"