Crime & Safety
DA Files Charges After 'Locked Door Loophole' Closed
A new state law aimed at combatting auto burglary went into effect January 1.
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco man has been charged with multiple allegations of crimes related to auto burglary under a new law that went into effect on Jan. 1, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
The 28-year-old man pleaded not guilty to an auto burglary in the Richmond District, including allegations of second-degree auto burglary, unlawful entry of a vehicle, two counts of hit-and-run driving, being an unlicensed driver, possession of burglary tools, one count of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer; and one count of receiving or buying stolen property.
Prosecutors allege the defendant burglarized a rental car last Friday and then hit two vehicles, one of which was a UPS truck, fleeing after each collision.
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This is the first case that the San Francisco District Attorney's Office has filed for unlawful entry of a vehicle since the implementation of Senate Bill 905, which was authored by State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco.
SB 905 closed the so-called "locked door loophole" that Wiener called a "senseless requirement that prosecutors prove that a car door was locked — even when there were broken windows or other clear evidence of forcibly entry — in order to convict a suspect of auto burglary."
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Pending trial, the court ordered the defendant to report to case management five times a week, and he is mandated into drug treatment, prosecutors said.
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