It was an Indian Summer Sunday afternoon in Pacific Heights. Covid and football were in the air. Ricardo1 was working for Instacart and sat on the planter box of the customer’s $7.3 million home2 as he waited for them to come out and collect his grocery delivery. All part of Ricardo’s grinding out a job with the hopes he could better the lives of his wife and children.
Ricardo had been waiting for about 15 minutes when Bruce Blanco approached. Blanco pointed a gun at him and demanded, “Give me your money, or I am going to kill you!” Ricardo tendered $6 and Blanco took his phone. Then, Blanco pistol-whipped Ricardo’s left cheek with the magazine well of a semiauto pistol. Blanco demanded Ricardo empty his pockets. Ricardo told me he thought he was going to die. Blanco took Ricardo’s complete wallet containing credit cards, identifications, and over $500. Blanco proceeded to the open window of Ricardo’s parked car and took his personal cellphone, before driving off.
SFPD arrested Blanco a couple weeks later for the robbery.
As usual, Boudin slapped a hardened criminal’s wrist.
Blanco is a documented Sureño gang member having been convicted of robbery in 2005 and sent to prison—prior to DA Chesa Boudin’s term.
January 2020, Boudin was elected San Francisco District Attorney with 64% of SF voters choosing another candidate as their first choice.
Under Boudin, in April 2020, Blanco was arrested with a gun— actually: a convicted felon with a gun. Boudin filed (FCAAP)3 the case and then let Blanco plead to a misdemeanor weapons charge.
On the September 2020 robbery of Ricardo, Boudin filed a case against Blanco.
Subsequently:
· despite the pistol-whipping,
· the threat on Ricardo’s life, and
· the taking of $500+,
which completely meets all the elements of a robbery (CPC Sec. 211), Boudin let Blanco plead to an attempted robbery. Here is a comparison of Boudin’s disposition: Party A shoots and kills Party B and Boudin allows Party A to plead to attempted murder. Party B is as definitively dead as Ricardo was robbed.
Ricardo told me, “I’m shocked. That’s crazy. That means it didn’t happen. He took my money!”
Boudin motivation for giving Blanco a deal is obvious. Boudin didn’t want to put a felony strike on Blanco and was confident Blanco would be grateful and change the course of his life to a more-productive track.
Boudin misjudged Blanco’s criminal path
In October 2021, after questioning a victim about the red colors he was wearing in the Mission District, Blanco simulated he had a gun and robbed the person of his cellphone. Boudin did not put a new case on Blanco, but instead just revoked his probation.
In January 2022, Blanco was caught again with a gun. Boudin filed a case on Blanco but let him out of custody while the case was still open.
While out of custody, on March 18th, Blanco followed a delivery driver into the Mission Street Oyster Bar at 2282 Mission Street. Blanco got into a fighting stance and asked the delivery driver, “Do I know you?” A restaurant employee came to the delivery driver’s defense and asked Blanco to leave the restaurant, whereby Blanco pointed a gun at the employee and demanded he open the cash register. The worker did not have access, so Blanco fled. All of this was captured on two of the restaurant’s video cameras.
Almost seven hours later, SFPD robbery inspectors came to the oyster bar to download the videos. Sergeant Servant noticed Blanco trying to enter the Prita Hotel4 located above the restaurant. (Only a dumb robber commits a crime so close to a hotel he is using.) Sergeant Servant and Kwan seized a loaded firearm from the felon in possession of a gun and arrested him.
I attended Blanco’s preliminary hearing in Department 11 on April 5th and watched the robbery video that was played on the court’s television screen. The judge found probable cause existed that Blanco attempted to rob the restaurant.
The chain reaction of Boudin’s failure to hold violent criminals accountable
· Would the March 18, 2022, Mission Oyster Bar gun caper robbery have occurred if Boudin had held Blanco in custody for being a felon in the possession of a gun in January 2022?
· Would Blanco have been running around with a gun in January 2022, if Boudin had put a new charge on Blanco for the October 2021 Mission Street robbery?
· Would the Mission Street robbery have occurred if Boudin had put a felony robbery strike on Blanco for the pistol whipping and robbery of Ricardo?
· And would Ricardo not have been robbed if Boudin had held Blanco in custody for running around as a felon-with-a- gun in January 2020?
Who, other than Boudin, is at fault for the subsequent felonies that Blanco committed?
As Ricardo said, “He (Boudin) treats criminals better than me.”
Blanco’s next hearing won’t be until after the June recall election. Thus, Blanco’s freedom to continue committing crimes in SF depends on the outcome of the Boudin recall.
Ricardo is an alias. The victim was insistent that his name is not disclosed as he still fears for his life, has just recently been able to pause therapy, and his nightmares have tapered off.
Zillow’s value.
Boudin use of the terms “filed, charged, took action, held accountable, and prosecuted” which only means in his technical usage: he pondered or considered the case.
The Prita Hotel is unrated by both Expedia and Trip Advisor. It has a single one-star review on Yelp consistent with its single room occupancy and shared bathrooms. I have been in the Prita many times…. work related. You should never stay there.
Outstanding article…very well-written…keep it up Lou…facts absolutely destroy the DA…He can’t twist facts to fit his false narrative of being tougher on crime than his predecessor. Great job!
Who votes for these politicians…wake up people ..the left is killing you they consider you expendable..