FRAUD RING BUSTED AT APPLE STORE
Sept. 29, 7:45 p.m.
Chestnut Street at Steiner
A sergeant was following up on another investigation when a fraud-in-progress call came from the Apple Store. Employees became suspicious when two separate women came in around the same time wanting to buy expensive computers sight unseen. While attempting to complete the transaction on one of the computers, it was determined that the credit card was bad. The women left the store before police arrived. With a description, the sergeant and other officers searched the area for the suspects. On Steiner Street, the sergeant noticed a woman matching one of the given descriptions sitting in the back seat of a Chevy Suburban. A male was sitting in the driver’s seat. The two were detained with the help of other officers, which ended a major fraud operation. The three (arrest is pending for the second woman) flew from the East Coast with numerous fake credit cards and matching IDs. They rented the Chevy and had already hit several other Apple stores and had numerous new computers in the car. They had an itinerary, a map and a programmed GPS device. It appeared that they were planning to hit Apple stores all along the West Coast. The suspects were charged with numerous felonies. Great arrest!

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER FRAUD
Oct. 2, 1:50 a.m.
Van Ness Avenue at Pacific
Officers were called to a report of a verbal fight. When they arrived, a male was exiting a taxi. Asked if there was a problem, the suspect told officers there was none. They asked him for his ID, and he told officers that he had none, though they could clearly see the outline of a wallet in his back pocket. The officer again asked for his ID and pointed to the wallet. The suspect placed the bag he was carrying on the ground and ran from the officers. They picked up the bag and chased him. They captured him at Franklin and Pacific, where his story imploded. He had numerous forms of ID (other people’s) and fraudulent credit cards in his wallet and backpack. He had stuff to make credit cards in the backpack and he had stolen property and methamphetamines on him. Finally, he had a no-bail warrant for a parole violation. He went to jail charged with numerous felonies.

JAYWALKING STRAIGHT TO JAIL
Oct. 18, 3:13 a.m.
Union Street at Buchanan
Officers were on patrol when a man and woman jaywalked in front of them. The officers stopped the subjects for the traffic violation. They discovered that the man was on probation with a condition that allows police officers to search him without probable cause. As they searched him, they located a can of Pepsi, but the can felt strange, like something other than liquid was occupying the space. The officer pried the top off the can and found a couple of plastic baggies containing methamphetamines. A further search of this suspect revealed a scale, which drug dealers use to measure out the proper amount of narcotics to sell. The male suspect was placed under arrest for possession of narcotics for sale and violating his probation terms. The female was acting suspicious and kept saying that she should have stayed home. The officers were going to cite her for the jaywalking but she stated that she did not have her ID. The officer asked it was in her purse. She opened the purse and displayed it to the officer. He questioned her about the wallet inside the purse. The female suspect provided a California ID that belonged to someone else. The officer looked inside the wallet and saw that there were several credit cards under the same name as the California ID. The female suspect said that she was going to return the ID and the credit cards. A check on the ID revealed that it had been reported missing. The officers contacted the victim from the missing ID report and met her after transporting both subjects to Northern Station. The victim was able to identify her ID, but said that the credit cards were not hers even though they had her name on them. At this point, the female suspect was put under arrest for the fraudulent possession of the credit cards. The victim of the ID theft provided the officers with another interesting piece of information: Homeland Security contacted the victim for making purchases of GHB from Poland over the Internet. So a simple jaywalking violation led to the arrest of an international drug and fraud ring. More good police work!

TAKING A BITE OUT OF CRIME
Oct. 19, 3:08 p.m.
Greenwich Street at Gough
A witness was sitting in her car when she noticed a suspect approach the car parked directly in front of her. Her attention was focused on him because he appeared to be checking the door handle. After the door didn’t open, the suspect, using some kind of tool, tampered with the door until it opened. The witness called the police and continued to watch the car burglar as he appeared to rummage through the interior of the car. An officer arrived on scene and approached on foot. The burglar was so engrossed in his work that he failed to notice the uniformed officer standing outside the car who was watching him pull the car stereo from the dashboard. The officer had seen enough and took the suspect into custody. The owner of the car was located. He explained that besides the stereo several items were disturbed, and a few dollars in quarters were missing. The officer heard a jingle in the suspect’s pants. Low and behold, the suspect had a few dollars of quarters in his pocket. The change for the meters was photographed and returned to the rightful owner. We love observant citizens who help us by being good witnesses. It makes our job easier. Thank you!

Incident reports listed here are based on witness statements as told to the reporting officers and are compiled by Cow Hollow Clyde.