Do You Recognize This Woman Who May Have Burglarized Bernal Homes?

/ Todd_Lappin

mallvideo

Neighbor Lizzie shares this sad crime story, which involves a string of home burglaries in Bernal Heights, stolen credit cards, downtown surveillance camera footage of a suspected perpetrator, and frustration with the SFPD. Neighbor Lizzie writes:

Robbery on Winfield on Feb 10, 2015… Here are the details. It is like my own personal version of Serial, the podcast, so keep up:

1. We, along with several neighbors on our block, were robbed on Tuesday last week.

2. Next door neighbors were robbed between 8 and 10am. One awoke to find his phone and wallet missing and went looking outside to see if his girlfriend had them outside. He found the woman in the video below smoking and sitting on his front doorstep. He asked her to borrow her phone and she said she didn’t have one.

3. A neighbor from across our backyard saw a man she assumed to be a contractor messing with the back door. 6+ footish and muscular build. Red to light brown short hair.

4. Many items were removed from our house indicating that they must have been in there meticulously going through everything for quite a while. They took:

– Electronics: android phone, kindle, Mac laptop, HP laptop, bluetooth speaker, etc.
– Personal paperwork: passports, expired ATM cards, wageworks cards, my purse and whatever else might have been in there, check books
– WORST: Jewelry watch for this stuff in pawn shops because I really want it back.
* Paul’s grandfather’s wedding ring. Rectangular setting with larger diamond surrounded by smaller ones.
* Jade bracelet my grandmother gave me from her time in Hong Kong as a navy nurse in WWII. Light jade with gold hinge and clasp.
* Victorian Gold pocket watch my father brought me from his travels. My mother found a long gold chain to go with it. Intricate floral design.
* Notre Dame class ring my father wore his whole life. Gold with blue stone.

5. My bank notified me in the evening that someone was trying to use my ID and cards to make purchases. They gave me locations and times of transactions.

6. Paul went to the shops and retrieved videotape of the person making transactions. As noted above, our neighbor feels she is the same person he found sitting outside his house when he was robbed. Here is the security camera video from the Westfield Mall:

7. The CSI team from the SFPD no-showed three times over 4 days after asking us to stay home from work to meet them before they finally showed up in the 15 minutes I had to go get my child from school. Very annoying and although all the police I’ve talked to are nice, I’m pretty sure they will offer no help in catching the people or finding the remaining treasures from our beloved departed. I get that I wasn’t stabbed, but we have done ALL the legwork.

Takeaways:
1. Bernal is a very hot place for thieves because people with lots of money have moved in.

2. I miss my dog.

3. The Police are nice but can’t get anything done due to internal communication issues. I’ve had great communication from the police who came out to take the report, and the inspector, but they seem to be helpless to communicate with CSI, and when you call Ingleside, they send you to dispatch who send you back to Ingleside in and endless loop.

33 thoughts on “Do You Recognize This Woman Who May Have Burglarized Bernal Homes?”

  1. I don’t recognize her.  I am so sorry to hear about your home and others being burglarized!  How distressing!!  We have lived on Eugenia Ave for 35 years and have never been robbed, although we had our car broken into one time.    Best wishes from Nancy on Eugenia.  

    • Nancy, for your protection please delete your comment. You gave WAY too much info about yourself including name and street.

      • Just out of curiosity, what is the concern there? Some woman named Nancy lives on Eugenia. I’m sure some dude named Bob lives on Folsom. What could someone with bad intentions do with that?

  2. This story has left me very worried, as I’m sure many other Bernal residents feel extreamly vulnerable. Terribly sorry Neighbor Lizzie for your unfortunate loss. I can only hope some of your items might be found eventually in the pawn shops. Those are priceless mementos. Very Very scary situation! SFPD/Ingleside, PLEASE take better care of us!

  3. What a sad story – so distressing and violating. We were robbed last week as well (we suspect Sunday morning). Thieves broke into our garage and stole a bicycle (we have now added additional security). A contractor working on our house also had an expensive tool stolen.

    So sorry for your loss…..

  4. If you have any pictures of the more distinctive items it might be worth contacting local pawn shops to let them know to keep an eye out – because the police don’t.

    In my case I got almost everything back because my burglars were stupid enough to try and pawn everything at the same store, and the store manager was smart enough to occupy them for as long as it took for the police to show up. And this was all without me offering a reward, but presumably that wouldn’t hurt either.

  5. I’m so sorry this happened. The loss of the family jewelry is esp lame. Thanks, though, for letting us know.

    Remember the story not long ago of the woman who burglarized a guy’s home on Gilbert St (that’s south of Market, right?) whole he was home & took his pit bull? She was caught & the pitbull returned. But…is it just me that sees a resemblance?
    http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Dog-Stolen-From-San-Francisco-Home-While-Owner-Slept-Upstairs-288336671.html

  8. Sorry to hear of your losses – hope that you get the family mementos back – the other stuff can be replaced. Get another dog – there are lots of rescue groups out there that have loving dogs just waiting for their furver home – local groups include Wonder Dog Rescue and RocketDog Rescue. And the woman in the video looks like Waldo.

  9. I’m afraid the thefts are part of our housing boom. Bernal Heights was always a working class area and there are other working class and lower income neighborhoods which are adjacent. In part the burglary/mugging epidemic is a result of the real estate industry’s need to advertise high prices in order to boost sales. The events you describe will probably not be the last for a while to come until the sales start to taper off.

    As far as the police are concerned I’ve tun into the same kinds of problems.

  10. I would love to see the stats regarding crime uptick coralated to the “housing boom” (my hunch is they are actually inversely related). It was always my understanding that crime levels are lower in nicer neighborhoods. We maybe in a position that the crimes are now so less frequent that they have become newsworthy.

  11. TERMS: Robbery and burglary are two different things. They’re measured separately in police reports, as well. A BURGLARY is entry into a building with the intent of stealing things. It’s a burglary whether or not things were stolen. It’s a burglary even if people are present in another room. If no threat is involved it’s a burglary.

    A ROBBERY is a VIOLENT CRIME where someone is threatened with physical harm in the attempt to take things. The police treat robbery more seriously than burglary. However, if people keep reporting a “robbery” when they mean a burglary, the police dispatch people are going to take it less seriously. So, it’s incumbent upon people to use the right term when reporting an incident to police.

  12. “CSI”: — some people watch way too much TV. First, what you had was a burglary, NOT a robbery. Nobody was threatened, and you didn’t even know that you had been burgled until later when you realized things were stolen.

    The SFPD has its hands full with violent crimes, so things like burglaries are going to take second place. And thank goodness that the SFPD puts more importance on human life than on the theft of things.

  13. Hey Lizzie, sorry for your loss.
    We had our front door kicked in about a year and a half ago in the middle of the day. I feel the same way about the police that responded, both the reporting officers and the investigators the following day. They were kind and polite but it was evident that they were not going to do anything about it. I’m glad they are out there dealing with other “real” crime but this was a “real” crime for us. The computers and phones can be replaced but the more personal things like the videos from our daughters adoption can’t . Good luck to you and I hope you get some of it back.

  14. I am so sincerely sorry for your victimization, & theft to your home. But…Burglaries have been going on way longer than now that people with money live in Bernal Heights. I have been a resident since the mid 1970’s, and have seen my share of robberies to my neighbors homes, & cars.

    We have also experienced someone from the Central Valley breaking into my Husbands vehicle, taking his checkbook, which had my name also on his checks….Long story short, this perp used my name on a DL, with someone else’s DL Number?! Police in Stockton CA, caught her with a car full of I.D.’s, & called me to testify against her in the Central Valley…Seriously?! We have also had our vehicles stolen on several occasions, parked right out in front of our home!

    We live in a City, that means there is more crime, than in a Suburb. And even though the Media says the Economic Turn down is over, for the vast majority of the working poor it is not. Crime, Theft, & Robberies have “always” occurred in Bernal Heights, and it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of money, or not…imvho.

  15. Pawn shops will not take jewelry from a tweaker they follow very strict laws now.
    The jewelery shop on 24th next to the La victoria bakery they Will buy everything they have their own gold melting machine the woman in the video is names FAiTH or thats her street name she is originally from san mateo she now lives with a JESSICA CHAMBERLAIN *her husband killed officer nick birco after a high speed chase on silver ave after they had robbed people on cortland in 2005- 2006*
    These woman are METH addicts who are always stealing lately I’ve seen them on gates and ogden and highland hope they finally go to jail they are always on mission

  16. so sorry for the burglary. hope luna’s identification is accurate? let us know if it helps catch the thieves.

    (slightly-not-the-point-but-would-sure-as-hell-be-helpful-kind-of-question: in the age of cheap high definition cameras, why are security cameras always so low resolution? what is the point if you can’t make out people’s features?)

    • The video was made with a cellphone pressed up against another screen. Which makes it a lot harder to tell even though the person is larger on our view. I guess it’s better than nothing, and people can recognize others from gait and other macro- characteristics as we may have here with “Faith.”

      I would suppose it’s the big guy going in and robbing the houses and this woman’s job is working with the spoils. Criminals avoid nicer neighborhoods because we do things like this in response. The police make it clear to the criminals that they are to leave us alone so we leave the police alone. Sometimes criminals become too smacked out to do their crimes in the approved manner.

  17. Im very accurate i know her i use to be one of those fucked up ppl who robbed people for drug money ive been clean 4 years and i have a job now and these woman are very violent when they need thsir nxt dope hit they have been atrested a number of times but they always get released J. Chamberlain was a passenger when her husband killed the officer and never went to jail and everyone else in that vehicle did police will not do anything trust me our ingelside police dept is SHITTTTY they are like the rejects of the dept sad but true

  19. C on folsom and 24 down towards potrero i stay away from mission st nothing good comes from the past they only come out late night to go to the gambling shack on mission and cortland its a corner store the windows are all covered in foil next to a hair salon across from the 76 gas station i hope the police actually follow up and catch them its not okay to steal from people i hope this helps and i try going to Latin jewelers on mission and the jewelry shop next to la victoria on 24 i will ask around if anyone is trying to sale any vintage jewelry

  20. Just FYI. There have been many changes in alarm systems recently. No more do you have to have a contractor come and run wires all over your house. Now alarm systems are wireless and companies will send you a kit with door and window sensors that you can have up and running in ten minutes.
    No longer do you need a landline either. The new systems have a cellular radio in them that makes calls to the dispatcher wirelessly.
    There are many other cool new features as well. Geofencing can alert you if you go too far from your home and forgot to arm your alarm. You can see when your family members or domestic help entered or exited your home. You can get an alert to your phone if you forget to close it in 10 minutes.
    Besides motion and door sensors they also have smoke and co2 sensors that will alert the fire department if you are away. I also have lights in my house that go on when I arrive home and disarm the system as well as at random minutes before sundown.
    You can start at alarm.com and find some companies that service your area.
    The price should range from $20 to $50 a month depending on the services you choose. Expect to sign a three year contract while they subsidise the cost of most of your equipment. Once you have the service its easy to add z-wave sensors on your own that you can buy from hardware stores, amazon or ebay.

    • Thank you for the detailed information. One tiny nitpick: the legally mandated detectors are smoke and CO. Not CO2.

      CO (carbon monoxide) is a lethal gas.

      CO2 (carbon dioxide) literally makes life on earth possible.

      🙂

      • They’re readily available and very low tech. Little plastic chambers with a strip of test paper are used after a patient has been intubated during CPR. They turn color in the presence of CO2. Its presence is a good sign, since it signifies that respiration is taking place.

        🙂

  21. Curious: how did the robbers get into the homes? Were doors or windows left unlocked, or garage doors pried open? Just trying to get a sense of what we’re dealing with here.
    Sorry for your loss.

    • No one is probably still reading this, but my neighbor just got hit a couple days ago at 10am. First they broke a window in the garage trying to pull the red emergency rip cord. Then they tried to crack open the door with some device. When that didn’t work the robber smashed a window and reached around to open the front door.

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