A thief who went viral last year when a video of him stealing from a San Francisco Walgreens circulated on social media was sentenced to 16 months in prison Monday.
Jean Lugo Romero, 40, pleaded guilty to felony grand theft and misdemeanor petty theft and will serve one year of probation in addition to the prison time, according to District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office.
The video, tweeted by Lyanne Melendez, news reporter ABC Owned KGO-TV (ABC7), shows a man on a bike loading items into a black bag before riding past a security guard and another person filming him.
This just happened at the @Walgreens on Gough & Fell Streets in San Francisco. #NoConsequences @chesaboudin pic.twitter.com/uSbnTQQk4J
— Lyanne Melendez (@LyanneMelendez) June 14, 2021
Police linked Romero to several other retail thefts — including one at a CVS, the Daily Mail reported.
In a different case, the District Attorney’s Office also announced that a jury found Ahmad Shabazz guilty in a series of thefts at three separate Walgreens last week.
“Whether the work of organized retail theft rings or of individual suspects, the burglaries impacting our local businesses will not be tolerated,” Mr. Boudin said in a statement. “The sentence and verdicts handed down are just one way we are working to hold individuals accountable for harm caused by retail theft in San Francisco. We are also continuing our work with partner agencies to dismantle the organized networks which make these crimes profitable.”
Shabazz will be sentenced on April 15.
• Peter Santo can be reached at psanto@washingtontimes.com.
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