EXCLUSIVE: San Francisco break-in suspect seen in viral bait car video by YouTube star Mark Rober arrested by police

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Now we have new details about the viral video launched final month, pranking San Francisco’s automobile burglars. One of many males caught on hidden digital camera bought arrested by police that very same day and was charged with breaking into three automobiles in a separate incident. I-Staff reporter Dan Noyes labored on that viral video with YouTube star Mark Rober and has continued to observe leads. On this case, he ran the man’s plates. Seems, he used his personal automobile driving to varied break-ins, and we discovered his two felony circumstances now underway that increase questions on how effectively the courts deal with these crimes.

Former NASA engineer Mark Rober set a lure for San Francisco’s automobile burglars. Twenty-five occasions over eight months, hidden cameras caught them within the act. As soon as they absconded with Mark’s backpack, it shot out glitter and a foul-smelling spray. And it began a countdown that made the thieves toss the bag. Rober even outfitted one automobile with bulletproof glass, only for the enjoyable of seeing their frustration.

Then, it was the I-Staff’s flip to dig a little bit. Mark Rober advised Dan Noyes, “After which you possibly can run the plates and do extra of like an in-depth investigation. I imply, the mixture of that labored very well.”

We realized that a number of of the thieves tried to keep away from detection through the use of stolen license plates on the automobiles they drove. The I-Staff confirmed Gerald Eisman his stolen plate in Rober’s video.

VIDEO: Bait automobiles and glitter bombs. Former NASA engineer enlists I-Staff’s assist to analyze SF break-ins

Dan Noyes: “What do you concentrate on seeing your plate utilized in against the law like this?”

Gerald Eisman: “Properly, I am grateful that I reported it.”

Some had no plates in any respect – however in a single case, the suspect used his personal automobile together with his personal license plates, and that is how I discovered 30-year-old Charvel Augustine of San Francisco. On Oct. 12, a Thursday night, he spots certainly one of Mark Rober’s bait automobiles on Bay Avenue close to the Embarcadero, sees site visitors coming, so he will get again in. When it is lastly clear, he emerges and strikes.

The backpack that Rober constructed sends a textual content that it has been stolen. The onboard cameras catch Augustine going via the bag. A minute later comes the message, “Fart spray cannon fired!” You may hear the servo’s motor.

No audible response from Augustine, however he throws the bag out the window.

Just a little over an hour later, Charvel Augustine has made his strategy to the Palace of High-quality Arts and one other of Rober’s bait automobiles. From 4 completely different angles, you see him break into the automobile and take the backpack.

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As soon as I ran his plate and located his info, I checked San Francisco Superior Courtroom data. Get this. After he failed to seem in a automobile housebreaking case from July, a decide issued a $35,000 bench warrant for Augustine’s arrest. The costs? Second Diploma Housebreaking of Car and Possession of Burglar Instruments – what’s meant to be a reliable automobile escape device.

In that case, police say they recovered U.S., Indian and Euro forex from Augustine’s automobile, jewellery in a baggie, watches and extra. In his felony criticism, prosecutors cited three “circumstances in aggravatio,” “nice financial worth,” “violent conduct which signifies a critical hazard to society” and “prior convictions.”

However, in a listening to on Oct. 9, Decide Loretta Giorgi described the case, “Seems to be like it could be simply settle-able.” She dropped the bench warrant and allowed Augustine to go away on his personal recognizance.

Three days later, Mark Rober’s hidden cameras caught him breaking into these two automobiles.

That very same day, courtroom data present that plainclothes officers out of Central Station shot their very own video of Augustine smashing one other automobile window in a distinct incident, and related him to 2 extra break-ins – all rental automobiles. Police had to make use of a spike strip to maintain him from fleeing — in that very same automobile with the identical license plate we noticed. Augustine’s newest automobile housebreaking prices embody an “allegation of felony dedicated whereas on bail.”

Frank Noto of Cease Crime SF advised the I-Staff, “You’d have thought that type of factor would not occur, however in truth it does.”

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Noto tells us, defendants launched whereas ready for a trial typically commit different crimes and that for the reason that begin of final yr, the SFPD made 468 felony arrests of suspects who had been free of custody pending trial.

“That is simply loopy,” Noto mentioned. “The judges are exhibiting poor judgment there. They’re saying this felony isn’t going to commit against the law, a minimum of not pending trial. However they’re useless improper.”

We have been attending Charvel Augustine’s courtroom hearings; he has pleaded “not responsible” to all prices. When Dan Noyes approached him, he declined to remark however do these designer denims look acquainted?

His deputy public defender, Bao Doan, additionally declined to be interviewed, however emailed us that Augustine is “loving and sort,” and that he takes care of his sick grandmother. She added “incarceration doesn’t remedy poverty or deter auto burglaries.”

District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins disagrees, her workplace telling me that incarceration is usually a deterrent to criminals committing extra crime.

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