The former San Francisco Police Department officer who was arrested last week on charges of theft and embezzlement after "misuse of a City vehicle, City gas and City automotive services" apparently made a habit of such crimes, after court records say that he'd allegedly pulled similar shenanigans in 2003 and 2004...but remained on the force until 2015.

You might have caught wind of the story last week: on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, the SFPD issued a press release saying that "On September 4, 2015, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office has announced that Ricci Rodriguez, 56 years of age of San Bruno, a former San Francisco Police Officer was booked into county jail on three counts of embezzlement, one count theft of a vehicle and two counts of grand theft."

According to SFPD spokesperson Officer Albie Esparza, SFPD's internal investigation started to scrutinize Rodriguez after a fellow officer "provided a tip regarding Rodriguez’s alleged misconduct and unlawful use of City resources."

The Chron reports that for over three years, Rodriguez allegedly used an SFPD vehicle intended for Bayview Station's plainclothes unit as his own, guzzling down at least $4,938.20 worth of gas and $8,867.03 worth of maintenance on the taxpayer dime.

Rodriguez, who had been in the SFPD for 32 years, allegedly took over the white Ford Taurus in 2011, and told a vehicle maintenance officer "not to assign the car to anyone else and evaded the topic when asked about it further," the Chron reports.

Rodriguez was allegedly notorious for his commandeering of the car, which he reportedly would park "in the nearby Foods Co. parking lot when he drove it to work to not raise suspicions."

After Rodriguez started getting questions from investigators about the car this January, he resigned from the force, Esparza says. But this apparently isn't the first time Rodriguez has faced the stolen-city-car music: the Chron reports that "according to court records, Rodriguez was caught committing a similar crime in 2003 and 2004, when a Bayview Station lieutenant and sergeant located a car that was constantly missing from the station’s fleet parked in his driveway."

Citing employee confidentiality rules, Esparza was unable to comment on the circumstances of the earlier case.

District Attorney George Gascón, who was SFPD chief from August 7, 2009, to January 9, 2011, says that the Rodriguez case indicates that "There are obviously system problems that need to be fixed” within the SFPD. For his part, however, SFPD Chief Greg Suhr says that his department shouldn't be judged by Rodriguez, as "maintaining the public trust is of utmost importance to me and the members of the SFPD...Upon receiving the tip about this misconduct, the Internal Affairs Division launched an immediate investigation and worked closely with the District Attorney’s Office on this case.”

Rodriguez pled not guilty to felony charges of grand theft, embezzlement and theft of a vehicle Friday and was released on $30,000 bail. He's expected to return to court on October 21.

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