San Francisco News Blog

Steve Vender, in a 2007 SF Weekly photograph

​Steve Vender was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday and arrested this afternoon, according to Brian Buckelew, spokesman for the office of District Attorney Kamala Harris. Vender was being held on $75,000 bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to three years in state prison.

"Justice is silenced by the culture of intimidation," Buckelew said in an e-mail to SF Weekly. "This terrorism in all its forms has no place in the criminal justice system and must end."

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More than 20 cars have been burned this month in the East Bay, and, closer to home, more than a dozen were lit ablaze over the summer here in San Francisco. Meanwhile, only a day before this morning's fires, a car went up in flames in the Sunset/Parkside neighborhood.

So it was that San Francisco awaited Saturday's episode, which explored the strange case of San Francisco French dual citizen Hugues de La Plaza, who met a bloody, mysterious end in his Hayes Valley apartment in 2007.

The show's final verdict seems to be that, like other matters public import, the essence of the de La Plaza case was: Who's right, America or France? And the answer is apparently La Republique Francaise.

Joseph Byrnes

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The San Francisco artist and musician is accused of axing his pit bull, Nickel, to death on Aug. 9 in a Bernal Heights church. Police called to the scene found Byrnes' blood-soaked clothes within the Immaculate Conception Church and found him crouched, nude and slathered with blood, over his mortally wounded dog. The officers claim Byrnes told them he killed his dog because it was possessed by the devil.

Last week, a San Francisco judge ruled that Byrnes is "diagnostically suitable" for Behavioral Health Court; a Nov. 12 hearing on whether this is where his case will be heard was put over until tomorrow.

In the wee hours last Thursday on the 300 block of West Portal Ave., a man was observed stopping by the front door of a bar, dropping his pants to expose his member to the crowd within, and shouting "something of a sexual nature." Unfortunately for this gentleman, the folks doing the observing were the pair of San Francisco Police officers standing right behind him.

In the words of the giggly officer who answered the phone at Taraval Station, the inebriated man exposed his posterior to the cops and "his fronterior" to the barroom.

The great porta-john arson wave of 2008-09 was largely focused on the Russian Hill area, but the arsonist -- or a copycat -- branched out to Potrero Hill and other city locales (though outhouse arson No. 21 was on the 2000 block of Broadway, just a short walk from this fire). San Francisco authorities didn't help their cause when, at some point, someone let it slip that torching an outhouse is not exactly a Herculean feat.

While the notion of burning outhouses may come off as extreme bathroom humor, the companies renting out porta-johns aren't laughing. One of them told SF Weekly that they lose $750 each time a restroom bursts into flames, while San Francisco police worry a toilet fire will eventually spread to a home or car, and someone could get hurt.

Chan's lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Matt Rosen, isn't buying it. "Hypothetically, even if she was responsible for some of those fires -- and I'm not conceding that at all -- there's no way she's responsible for all of them," he says. "It's just not possible."

More than that, however, Rosen is displeased that the police have repeatedly told the press that Chan is their prime suspect in the summer's car arsons, despite the fact that the SFPD admittedly does not have enough evidence to file charges against her in those cases. Instead Chan is facing a count of arson for a structure fire that was set in April (Rosen notes that the second structure fire incident mentioned by police has been dismissed). And the lawyer feels that the frequent coupling of Chan's memorable moniker and the headline-grabbing car fires might have made it impossible for a potential local jury to handle her unrelated arson charge.
 

Byrnes' closest friends told SF Weekly that he's been battling mental health issues for years, but the issue of his mental state didn't come up in court until yesterday. That's when, over objections from the District Attorney, Deputy Public Defender Daro Inouye successfully undertook the first step toward having this case transferred to Behavioral Health Court.

The promoter said a pair of men he knew approached him at around 3 a.m. on Sunday and demanded compensation. Both feigned that they were carrying weapons up their sleeves -- and both were quickly apprehended when police crashed the scene. While one of the men stood 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds -- a bad BMI index, but not eye-catching -- his associate is listed at 6-foot-8 and a pipe-cleaner thin 175 pounds. This, according to Captain Jim Dudley of the SFPD Central Staiton, is no misprint.

"He was a real tall, skinny guy," said Dudley. "But the suspect was known to the victim. It wasn't like he was trying to pick Manute Bol out of the crowd." (for the record, at least three police officers looking over this incident spontaneously and independently made mention of Bol, a former Golden State Warrior standing 7-foot-7 and weighing a svelte 225 pounds, if that).

It seems, however, it was a banner week for intellectually challenged alleged criminals running wild in the North Beach area.

San Francisco police had that notion, too -- but Inspector Jeffrey Levin of the SFPD's arson department said he's been in close contact with the lead investigator at the Richmond Police Department, and they do not believe these instances are related. That's because East Bay authorities have a person of interest in their spate of car blazes -- and Levin still believes that 62-year-old homeless woman Fafa Chan is responsible for a series of summer car fires here in the city.

"I'm convinced that she did it," says Levin, who adds that they have "evidence" tying convicted arsonist Chan to at least one of the car fires, but would not disclose what it is.

We'd love to know what's got Levin so convinced. As SF Weekly wrote back when Chan was first arrested -- she was caught on tape setting structure fires and got around town via the bus -- the logistics of a 62-year-old woman without a car setting some of these fires seems far-fetched. The prime example is a quartet of arson fires set in the pre-dawn hours of July 28. Here's how we put it before:

The age-old question that has tormented thinkers for ages -- regarding whether you could walk off with nine pianos and get away with it-- was answered Tuesday. No. You cannot.

A San Francisco jury smacked down 66-year-old piano thief Susan Gilner today, convicting her of 11 felonies in connections with selling pianos on consignment and not paying the former owners their owed share. The total tab of the stolen merchandise came to $138,000 filched from nine victims.

As owner of Encore Vintage Pianos, Gilner had entered into agreements with the hapless piano owners to move their antique instruments for an agreed upon price, 10 percent of which Gilner would keep as commission.

Following her Monday arrest she was moments ago hit with three charges by the District Attorney: murder, allegedly with a dangerous and deadly weapon (the bottle and clock) and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with allegations of great bodily injury.

It is unclear exactly what manner of clock Roueche is accused of using as a murder weapon in what must have been a horrific scene in Miller's room at the Henry Hotel at 106 Sixth Street.

Roueche will be arraigned on Thursday morning at 9 a.m.

Gotcha

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The debate on whether the Mission Bay thief who allegedly snagged three wallets from the China Basin Building (including one belonging to an SF Weekly employee) is incredibly crafty/ballsy or incredibly desperate/stupid has come to a close. He's apparently a dumbass, and as of two hours ago, the alleged thief is in police custody.

On Monday last week, a man showed up at our gargantuan office building; in professional attire, and stood out only because of his bright red sneakers and coke-bottle glasses. So when our employee returned from a trip to the kitchenette to find him sitting at her desk, she thought he might be new or lost. "Hi?" she said.

"Oh, hi!" he responded, then jumped out of the seat and fled the building. She noticed immediately that her bag had been tampered with and that her wallet was missing. When she called security, she learned that two other wallets had been stolen from a U.C. San Francisco office nearby, and that a suspect had been caught on camera. Although a building security chased the man down the street, he jumped onto Muni and escaped.

A crowd gathers around Supervisor David Campos after today's veto override

​"This veto override cannot really take effect," Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said immediately after the vote, which took place at today's full board meeting. Ballard contended that the legislation cannot be enforced because it conflicts with federal immigration law. "The board can't force our law-enforcement officials to break federal law." He added, "We've got to protect our city officials from symbolic gestures like this bill, no matter how well-intentioned it is."

Supervisor David Campos, the bill's chief sponsor, anticipated this response in his remarks before the vote on the ordinance, which passed 8-3 with Supervisors Michela Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd voting no. "It is unfortunate that we are at this point," Campos said. "It saddens and pains me to say that what we hear from the mayor is that he is going to ignore the democratic process that's been followed."

Yet a Visitacion Valley man has gone one better.The resident of the 1200 block of Sunnydale frenetically flagged down a passing police officer on Friday evening while clad in only a towel and his own blood.

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A Sunday case described by police as a "suspicious death" at 106 Sixth Street has resulted in a murder arrest a 34-year-old woman, according to the District Attorney's office.

The San Francisco Police Department describes Kira Roueche as "involved in the death" of Cameron Miller, 42, in his room at the Henry Hotel. She was arrested earlier today and a charging decision could be made by the DA as soon as Tuesday.

If determined to be a homicide, this would be the city's 42nd of the year, coming on the heels of Alfonso Rodriguez' Friday night beating death in Crocker Amazon.

Hugues de la Plaza

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French government investigators, meanwhile, conducted their own review of the evidence, weighing in solidly in the murder column.

The case was cited in new stories around the world as evidence of possible San Francisco police incompetence.

And veteran 48 Hours Mystery producer Josh Gelman was assigned to get as close as possible to the bottom of what really happened the night de la Plaza died. In doing so, he turned up a copy of a heretofore unreleased report, conducted by a consulting medical examiner at the behest of the San Francisco Police Department, that concludes de la Plaza was murdered.

Joe Eskenazi

A BB gun for every occasion

​We've written a bit about the Kafka-esque situation regarding BB guns in San Francisco. Police officers, following a draconian city ordinance forbidding anyone from possessing "toys projecting missiles by air or gas," continue to impound the air guns and cite their owners with a misdemeanor. Meanwhile, a 2004 state law -- specifically written to override ridiculous local ordinances like this -- renders the San Francisco law obsolete. And yet police are still citing and impounding BB guns simply because no one has told them to stop. It's akin to the cops seizing your beer because of a Prohibition-era local ordinance.

While it may have been a chore to find decent bubbly during the dry years, the above photo demonstrates that tracking down scarily realistic air guns in San Francisco isn't like stumbling upon a four-leaf clover. Throughout the city -- and, especially in Chinatown, where this photo was taken -- many shops sell BB guns. And for less than the price of a medium cheese pizza.

The shopkeeper at this store was flabbergasted to learn of the tenuous legality of selling BB guns in San Francisco -- largely because some of her best customers are police officers who, she says, had shown her identification designating them to be so. "I asked them why they needed these toys -- they have the real thing," said the merchant, who asked we not use her name. "They said they can't play with their children with real guns."

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Police discovered Alfonso Rodriguez near death behind the wheel of a car late Friday night at Cordova and Munich streets. The 39-year-old expired not long thereafter at General Hospital. He was covered in wounds,  and area residents had seen at least two men beating him. Witnesses also told the media they had heard the sounds of a violent struggle. 

The assailants, could not be clearly seen due to darkness; none was identified or apprehended. It is unclear what, if anything, Rodriguez said to authorities before his death.

Rodriguez is the first homicide victim of the month; the last person killed in San Francisco was 22-year-old Malik Sohan, who was gunned down in Bayview on Halloween night.

Several online commenters purporting to be Fennedy's family members left laments at the bottom of our original article ("...he is a Son a brother my lil cousin, he was warmth, a smile, and someones best friend. He was a still full of life he was so many things but most of all he is lost and I will miss him. it is sad that Halloween will never be the same! He was on his way to see his mother that night and now she will never see her son. may this crime not go unsolved.").

So, when it came to light several days later that the dead man was not Malik Fennedy but Malik Sohan, it created an uncomfortable situation. Were the grief-stricken relatives writing tributes to a man who was still laughing and joking as he walked around the city? Did Fennedy actually make it to his mother's house? And how did the Medical Examiner's misidentification occur? Stephen Gelman, the administrator for the Medical Examiner, got back to us today and answered many of our questions.

Malik Fennedy is not dead. But, then again, Malik Fennedy wasn't really alive, either.
 

Tregg Smith, 40, has told police that he didn't mean to push his 32-year-old pal out a large bay window at least 50 feet off the ground at 776 Bush Street. His official explanation is that the victim was sitting precariously on the ledge when Smith gave him a jocular push -- and sent the man tumbling to the pavement below.

The victim tells a different story, claiming he was pushed with two hands in a move that was "definitely intentional." A witness to the incident -- a female acquaintance of the two men, according to the DA -- also says this was no accident.

Tim. We saw that you got busted for pot, and obviously we find it appalling. Will this end your promising young career?Or will your sinewy, 261 strikeout-throwing arm have to atrophy in the dugout for some unspecified amount of time? Hard to say. But if you are out of a job, we'd like to be the first to extend you an offer for a backup career.

The utterly perfect photo for this article

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Please become our new SF Weekly pot critic!

Westword, our sister paper in Denver recently put out a call for the nation's first official pot critic, and the idea caught on so brilliantly that we were thinking of hiring one of our own. Although we're not even sure if you're literate, we feel you would be perfect for this job.

We'll even offer you this free legal advice: Just tell everyone you were only holding the pot for Michael Phelps. Works every time.

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Well, there's the law and there's the law. A recent police report described officers from Taraval Station stopping a driver for an alleged road rage incident, then citing him for possessing an air pistol. A sergeant familiar with the case told SF Weekly that the citation was not due to the man brandishing the pistol or employing it during his aggressive driving -- but merely for possessing a BB gun, which the police still consider illegal within city limits (you are allowed to possess a real gun, by the way). 

The wheels of justice move slowly, it would seem. Unless you're toting a BB gun.

Now SF Weekly has suffered a loss of its own, albeit a less theatrical one. Earlier this week the gentleman captured in the grainy surveillance footage on the right sauntered into our offices and brazenly stole a wallet out of a woman's purse. On that same day, he also entered two nearby offices in the China Basin Building and allegedly stole wallets from U.C. San Francisco employees. And, a few days earlier, U.C. Police report a man matching his eclectic description filched wallets from the nearby Gladstone Institute and  UCSF Community Center.

Since, as you can see, the security cameras don't exactly detail where he's got his birthmarks, it's fortunate that the alleged serial thief has a memorable appearance:

In the wee hours of Oct. 15, police arrested 40-year-old Tregg Smith and charged him with tossing his 32-year-old friend out the window at the Burke-Lewis Apartments on 776 Bush Street, an SRO hotel where Smith is a resident. While police initially told SF Weekly that the victim sailed clear to the pavement below, they subsequently reported he struck a tree about midway to the ground, and then tumbled down. Either way, the victim's injuries of a broken arm and dislocated shoulder are astoundingly minor for someone who fell more than 50 feet.

Smith pleaded not guilty to the charges; Assistant District Attorney Mike Torncoso asked for bail to be set at $400,000, but Judge Curtis Karnow set it at $100,000. Smith made bail on Oct. 19 and is currently living in the community; terms of his release forbid him from approaching his erstwhile pal or imbibing alcohol.

Herron, 21, who has a history of mental illness, will be released by the San Francisco Sheriff's department to officials in either Sacramento or Union City -- "both of which have criminal holds placed on the defendant for open criminal matters," according to San Francisco's District Attorney's office.

Earlier today we noted that even legal scholars were shocked that Herron beat the criminal trespassing charge -- until they noted that the fine print of the law requires not just wandering onto someone else's property, but doing so with the intent of residing there. "Holy mackerel," USF law professor Bob Talbot told SF Weekly. "You can go into a bear place, spend the night, and not violate any laws."

Yesterday, Judge Wallace Douglass ruled that Kenneth Herron's much-publicized foray into the bear enclosure did not constitute trespassing, as the 21-year-old homeless man "did not intend to make the bear enclosure his place of residency, nor did his actions convey any indication that he would." Like most folks, Talbot assumed that vaulting multiple fences and bridging wide moats to enter a zoo habitat would naturally be labeled as trespassing -- and, unlike most folks, Talbot is a legal expert and University of San Francisco law professor focusing on criminal law.

A witness watched an enterprising miscreant in the 700 block of Naples eye a box behind a locked gate. The alleged thief then grabbed a nearby tree branch and board, crafted a "teeter-totter" and used it to catapult the box over the gate and into his evil genius arms.

The master criminal's method of thievery was more well thought out than his escape, however.