Teen suspect arrested with "prolific auto burglar" following multiple SF thefts

A teenager suspected in multiple auto burglaries at San Francisco tourist spots was arrested together with a known auto burglar following a police chase into Oakland over the weekend, authorities said Thursday.

In a press statement, San Francisco police said officers were conducting a city-wide auto burglary suppression investigation on Saturday afternoon when plainclothes officers working near the Palace of Fine Arts in the city's Marina District saw a vehicle being burglarized. The officers began following the suspect vehicle but lost track of it because of the driver's evasive and illegal maneuvers and the risk to public safety, police said.

Shortly after the suspect and vehicle description were broadcast to other units, a police sergeant spotted the vehicle in the area of Masonic Avenue at Golden Gate Avenue in the North of the Panhandle district, police said. The vehicle was followed east to Alamo Square, another tourist spot targeted by auto burglars, where officers saw the suspect break into another vehicle, police said.

The suspect again lost officers trailing him using illegal, evasive maneuvers, police said. Eventually, another police sergeant spotted the car headed east on Interstate Highway 80 and onto the Bay Bridge. The car was followed to the 800 block of West MacArthur Boulevard where the sergeant saw the teenage suspect remove property from the suspect vehicle and get into a nearby vehicle, police said. According to the police statement, the sergeant recognized the vehicle as associated with a "prolific auto burglar" identified as 27-year-old San Francisco resident Robert Sonza.

Police said officers chased the car and used a spike strip to puncture its tires, but the car continued to flee at a high rate of speed until it crashed at Piedmont and Pleasant Valley Avenues in Oakland. Both Sonza and the juvenile suspect ran away from the crash scene but were arrested shortly after, according to the statement.

The first suspect vehicle involved in the auto burglaries at the Palace of Fine Arts and Alamo Square was determined to have been stolen. and a search of the car yielded a burglary tool and property from another auto burglary near the Palace of Fine Arts on Sept. 2, police said. The second suspect vehicle also had stolen property inside along with a firearm, police said, and the recovered property was reunited with multiple auto burglary victims.

Souza was charged with receiving stolen property, being an accessory after the fact, resisting arrest, conspiracy, and carrying a loaded firearm in addition to other gun charges.

The juvenile suspect was cited for vehicle theft, receiving stolen property, second-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, and resisting arrest. He was released to the custody of a parent, police said.

"The hard work and dedication displayed by our patrol officers, sergeants, and investigators in this incident is what has led to a 56% drop in auto burglaries this past year," said San Francisco Police Chief William Scott in a prepared statement. "The acts committed by this suspect were not a crime of opportunity but a deliberate plan to target visitors at popular tourist destinations. Despite the dangerous and evasive driving of the suspects, SFPD personnel continued their surveillance from a distance for the sake of public safety and took the suspect and his accomplice, a known, prolific auto burglar, into custody."

Police asked anyone with information about the incidents to call the department's tip line at  (415) 575-4444 or send a text to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.