Men busted in Oakland with trove of loot after SF car break-in

Kostas Lirakis, 33, was arrested on April 28 after police raided his Oakland home where officers found more than 80 big-ticket items stolen in recent burglaries. Kostas Lirakis, 33, was arrested on April 28 after police raided his Oakland home where officers found more than 80 big-ticket items stolen in recent burglaries. Photo: San Francisco Police Department / / Photo: San Francisco Police Department / / Image 1 of / 79 Caption Close Men busted in Oakland with trove of loot after SF car break-in 1 / 79 Back to Gallery

San Francisco police busted three men and uncovered a trove of boosted loot after tracking a medical camera stolen in an Outer Sunset District auto burglary to an Oakland home, officials said.

Officers on April 28 raided the Oakland home of Mario Starnes, 51, his son Trevor Starnes, 27, and 33-year-old Kostas Lirakis. All three were arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property.

But an attorney for Mario Starnes said Thursday that police are overselling the arrests and the recovery of nearly 80 big-ticket items.

“There is absolutely not one item of evidence that my client has anything to do with the theft of the property or the burglary of a car,” attorney Frederick Remer said. “All he’s charged with is possession of stolen property.”

Remer is waiting to see what evidence prosecutors have against his client.

The takedown stemmed from a March 17 San Francisco car break-in. In that case, someone smashed the window of a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle that a woman parked for half an hour on Lincoln Way at 44th Avenue.

The woman returned to her car at 8 p.m. and found her window broken and two laptop computers and a specialized camera stolen. The camera, a high-resolution Canfield Reveal imager, is a model used by aestheticians to show sun damage, spots and other blemishes on clients’ skin.

The woman later called police at the Taraval Station after seeing her camera for sale online. Investigators tracked the seller to a home on the 4200 block of Wilshire Boulevard in Oakland and authorities set up a stakeout.

On the morning of April 28, San Francisco and Oakland police stormed the home and recovered the camera along with a hoard of other valuable goods they believe were taken in previous burglaries.

Some of the plundered items include a drone, two rifles, several pairs of jeans worth about $200 each, a Tiffany & Co. dish and power tools. Police are working to identify the owners of the more than 80 stolen items.

The arrests come as San Francisco continues to reel from a staggering upswing in car break-ins over the past year and a half.

Last year, auto burglaries shot up 31 percent in San Francisco, prompting some finger-pointing by the city Police Department. Officials have blamed statewide prison reforms for the overall increase in property crime, though many large California cities — including several in the Bay Area — have not seen similar upticks in nonviolent crimes.

The Police Department formed an auto-burglary task force in August, which officials said has helped drive down the rate of auto burglaries.

Police are asking burglary victims who believe their property is among the items recovered to call detectives at the Taraval Station at (415) 759-3100.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky