San Francisco's most famous shoplifter has been arrested again

It was just over a year ago that Allahpundit wrote about a brazen shoplifting that took place at a San Francisco Walgreens. It got a lot of attention thanks to a video showing the man, later identified as Jean Lugo Romero, filling up a trash bag with merchandise and then riding his bicycle out of the store with it.

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Yesterday, local ABC reporter Lyanne Melendez, who shot the original video, posted and update to that story. Romero has been arrested once again, this time for shoplifting at a CVS.

The full story is here and it’s even worst than the summary makes it sound. Romero pleaded guilty to his previous crimes in April of this year:

A bicycle-riding thief who went viral last year when video footage of him stealing from a Walgreens in San Francisco and then riding out of the retail store with a large bag of stolen merchandise made the rounds on social media was sentenced Monday to 16 months in prison.

Jean Lugo Romero pleaded guilty to felony grand theft and misdemeanor petty theft and received a year of probation in addition to the jail term, San Francisco prosecutors said.

So he was given a 16 month sentence plus probation in April but according to KGO he only served 8 months of that sentence. And given that there was a delay between his arrest and his trial most of that was probably accounted for by the time he was sentenced. So Romero is already back on the street and stealing using the same plastic bag and a bike M.O. that made him famous. According to an employee at the CVS Romero has been stealing from, he shows up not just daily but several times a day to shoplift.

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An employee of that CVS said Lugo Romero would come two or three times a day.

“I’m only here someday until noon some days until four. I’ve seen him twice and I’ve heard he comes in at night too. He goes straight to where the garbage bags are, he opens one up, grabs a couple of bags, fills them up and walks away and he usually helps himself to a beverage and leaves,” said the employee who did not want to be identified.

Police told us on Monday they think Lugo-Romero has stolen from that CVS store at least a dozen times.

“We can document up to $15,000 worth of items being stolen. We know he is prolific. It’s very possible that there are other incidents and thousands of more dollars that we are not able to document at this time,” said Officer Robert Rueca, spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department.

Well, you can’t say the man isn’t committed to his work but I think it’s also safe to say his time in prison did not convince him to amend his ways.

Romero was arrested Saturday after one of his recent visits to the CVS. Because police have evidence of at least $15,000 in stolen items, he should wind up in prison again. Hopefully SF’s new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins will make an example out of him this time. Here’s the KGO report on Romero’s latest arrest.

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