TV crew reporting on car break-ins in SF has both bait car and camera crew vehicle robbed

Shattered glass from a recent car break-in remains on the sidewalk on Bay Street near Kearny Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. Police officials say auto burglaries have doubled from last year, especially along Bay Street in Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square and the Embarcadero. less Shattered glass from a recent car break-in remains on the sidewalk on Bay Street near Kearny Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. Police officials say auto burglaries have doubled from ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close TV crew reporting on car break-ins in SF has both bait car and camera crew vehicle robbed 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

A television production crew investigating the car break-in issue in San Francisco inadvertently played themselves when thieves broke into not just a bait car, but the camera crew's vehicle as well.

Inside Edition, a CBS-affiliated news program, brought a car to Alamo Square with a Michael Kors purse and a $250 speaker in plain view inside. Both items had been fitted with GPS tracking devices. As anticipated, the car was broken into by a woman and a man soon after they parked. The crime, they later noted after reviewing footage, took about 20 seconds.

The two allegedly fled to a bus before ending up at the 16th Street Mission BART station, where Inside Edition Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero approached the man. Speaker still in hand, the man then attempted to head into BART.

"Five million people are gonna see you steal that," Guerrero said on camera. "So you can choose to give it back or not."

After being further pressed, the man told Guerrero he was going to call his mother before putting the speaker down on the BART platform and walking away. Guerrero later traced the purse to a garbage can nearby on Mission Street.

The reporter later caught up with an Alamo Square resident whose surveillance camera caught the break-in. But, to Guerrero's shock, the story continued; Inside Edition's camera crew van was broken into while she was conducting an interview inside the neighbor's residence.

"They stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment," she said, opening the SUV door to shattered glass. "We actually got hit twice in one day."

San Francisco and Oakland are currently fighting a car break-in epidemic. In 2017, break-ins hit a historic high, with 31,122 reported incidents. Only 2 percent of cases saw arrests.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.



