Thanks to the bravery and frustration of one Noe Valley resident who was tired of her Amazon boxes being stolen, the man the neighborhood had dubbed the Bicycle Bandit is now in custody. Police arrested 51-year-old Andy Anduha on Tuesday after Sonya Yu put out a bait package, videotaped him entering her front gate, chased him down with a bokken (wooden Chinese sword), and sprayed him with a can of bear spray she bought at REI.

Yu was pissed, you see, because she claimed $1,000 worth of goods had been stolen from her front door earlier this year, and the entire neighborhood had grown tired of having their packages stolen as well. It was all the work of one man, apparently, and people had even taken pictures of him escaping on his bicycle. But it wasn't until Yu bear-sprayed the bastard and placed him under citizen's arrest (and immediately tweeted about it, in all caps), that the police did anything about it. She herself got hit with bear-spray blowback in the incident, she said, but even though her face was burning she said, "IT FEELS SO GOOD." Also, later, she said, "It feels good so good to catch that fucker."

Her fiancé had previously set up the video camera, and Tuesday was go-time after she put out the bait package and lay in wait.

Anduha was charged with attempted robbery, and he was arraigned yesterday. It turns out he had a rap sheet already with multiple rape charges on it. Below, see the footage of him stealing the package, and Yu going after him with the sword, via NBC Bay Area. (The original video's been removed from Youtube.) Suffice it to say, Yu is now the hero of all Noe Valley.

Some of her tweets during the melee:

Apparently, our neighborhood thief has a violent rape rap sheet. My bear spray, bokken, & I are still not intimidated. — Sonya Yu (@sonyayu) November 27, 2012

@scoutj he’s the one that’s been rampantly stealing packages in our neighborhood. I put out a bait package today & will be quietly working. — Sonya Yu (@sonyayu) November 27, 2012

I GOT HIM WITH THE BEAR SPRAY BUT HE ESCAPED. — Sonya Yu (@sonyayu) November 27, 2012

HE IS BEIN TAKEN AWAY IN AN AMBULANCE CUZ OF THE BEAR SPRAY I DOUSED HIM WITH. — Sonya Yu (@sonyayu) November 27, 2012



NBC Bay Area's report:

UPDATE: Bear-sprayed theft suspect's lawyer alleges vigilantism and entrapment.

[Noe Valley SF]

[NBC]