SF Judge Chun OR’s (Releases) Dangerous Home Invasion Robber Into the Public

Gangster preyed on non-English speaking 88-year-old Asian woman

The lasting trauma to a home invasion robbery victim

Before his trial, David DePape is still in custody for his attack on Paul Pelosi, either because he suffers mental problems, or he is a threat to the public.  Granted, this attack had a potentially greater impact to our country than other home invasions.  DePape’s plans were intended for the Speaker of the House- the third highest ranking person in our country- and it was perceived as an attack on a U.S. institution. 

But from a human side, you have to wonder whether Pelosi suffers from residual trauma due to the invasion on his home- a violation of his most personal and safest space.  Does Pelosi constantly recheck the doors and windows of his home to ensure they are secured throughout the day?  Do small sounds that he would have slept through previously now disrupt his sleep? How would any of us recover from such a traumatic event?  

But why is DePape, who technically is still innocent, held in custody when more dangerous home invasion robbers are allowed to roam free before they are convicted?

Home invasion robbery at gunpoint of an 88-year-old Asian woman

April 7th was a hot one.  On the day preceding the Giants’ Opening Day, temperatures soared to 86 degrees.  Ms. Zhen lived with her daughter in the Ingleside District, approximately 150 feet from the prestigious, and in session, Lick-Wilmerding High School.

Around noon, like Pelosi, the eighty-eight-year-old Ms. Zhen was alone in her house when she heard Gustavo Riberio-Quintaniha (hereafter: Gustavo) and an accomplice, wearing ski masks, ascending her interior stairs.  Ms. Zhen does not speak English, but she understood the gun Gustavo pointed at her as he ordered her to the bathroom.  

For the next 30 minutes, Gustavo, a suspected Norteño (red-wearing) gang member, and his partner ransacked Zhen’s home, while intermittently checking to ensure she remained in her bathroom.  Besides taking a camera and other items, Gustavo and his accomplice found and then stole $10,000 in cash from Ms. Zhen.

Gustavo and his partner departed Ms. Zhen’s home.  In their hasty flight, Gustavo forgot an unknown item at the front door of Ms. Zhen’s home.  Gustavo returned to the Zhen home and parked his Nissan Rogue in front.  Still wearing a ski mask, he retrieved the unknown item and then drove off.  Unfortunately for Gustavo, his ski mask and quick movements caught the attention of a neighbor walking her dog, as Gustavo was now linked to a vehicle.

CBS Channel 5 covered this home invasion robbery- video here.  In the interview, Ms. Zhen’s daughter stated: “Leaders are not doing enough.”  So which leaders are not doing enough and are responsible for the level of violence in San Francisco?

Interview on Channel 5 KPIX CBS

SFPD & San Mateo County Gang Intelligence Unit

SFPD was able to obtain surveillance video of the Nissan Rogue driven by Gustavo on his return to recover the unknown item at Zhen’s front door.  The Nissan’s license plates came back stolen from a different vehicle out of San Mateo County-now a link to San Mateo.

Two days later, Gustavo was arrested for shooting a firearm from a moving vehicle in San Mateo County, but he had not been identified as the suspect in the home invasion.

On May 20, 2022, Gustavo was arrested for three auto break-ins in San Francisco that were committed while using the same stolen license plate as the Nissan that was used in the home invasion of Ms. Zhen.  And now the trail to Ms. Zhen’s home invasion robber got hotter.  In the arrest, SFPD confiscated Gustavo’s cellphone and a judge approved a search warrant to gather info from the phone.   

Gustavo’s May 20th arrest occurred while DA Chesa Boudin’s was still in office, so he was immediately released “with minimum supervision.”  During his period of freedom, Gustavo went on to tear up San Mateo County.  He was involved in several auto burglaries and then was the passenger in a high-speed, 18-minute chase from San Mateo County to the Bayshore Freeway’s 4th Street exit to the surface streets below.  Law enforcement officers found two untraceable ghost guns in the car, one in a bag on the bench, right next to Gustavo.  In a separate domestic violence-related incident, Gustavo badly vandalized his ex-girlfriend’s car.  And remember, those were only the crimes he was caught for. 

The forensic results from Gustavo’s cellphone were completed and they established not only that his phone was at (“pinged’) Zhen’s home on April 7th, but his phone contained photos of Zhen’s stolen property.   (The Norteños are behind the Tre-4 gang’s General Order 2.02: Turn your cellphones off completely before you commit a crime.)

On October 20, 2022, SFPD and the San Mateo County Gang Intelligence Unit served a search warrant, signed by the Honorable Judge Michael McNaughton, on Gustavo’s Burlingame apartment.  (Yup 650, gang members are in your hood too.)   Per the joint search warrant service, law enforcement officers found in the trunk of Gustavo’s car, a black ski mask and an un-serialized AR-15 style assault weapon (ghost gun), fully loaded with thirty rounds.  Ten additional backup rounds were also found in the car.  If you think a hammer made DePape prepared, Gustavo was prepared for a war.

The joint task force arrested Gustavo while he was wearing the same distinctive and expensive green Yeezy shoes that he was wearing when he robbed Ms. Zhen.   (A violation of Norteño General Order 4.01: Do not wear distinctive clothing when committing violent crimes.) 

Close replica of Gustavo’s shoes

SFPD mirandized Gustavo and he confessed to robbing Ms. Zhen.

At this point, it is pretty safe to conclude that Gustavo is an evil cat.

Honorable Judge Marisa A. Chun

Judge Chun was appointed by Governor Newsom on July 12, 2021.   Judge Chun is a Yale undergrad and a Harvard Law graduate.  Her previous law firm, Crowell Law touted her experience in “high-stakes complex civil litigation, including class actions, and trade secret misappropriation cases, as well as appeals and white-collar defense matters and investigations.”  In other word: Yale, Harvard, and complex civil law experience does not add up to a person who grew up riding MUNI like the rest of us, or has been exposed to the criminal mindset, recidivism, and public defenders’ fiction weaving.  

Initially, in a detention hearing for Gustavo, Judge Chun determined he should be held in custody.  As, I discussed in my most recent article, numerous police sources have told me they believe DA Brooke Jenkins’ detention hearings, which keeps arrestees in custody longer, is responsible for the tapering of auto break-ins in SF.

On November 28, 2022, Judge Chun listening to a bail hearing for Gustavo, stated:

              In terms of if there’s clear and convincing evidence that there will be great

             bodily injury if he (Gustavo) is released, given that I don’t see any great

             bodily injury to individuals thus far.  My concern is that I have somebody

             who’s 20 years old, who has no criminal record; who had no run-ins with

             the law until this year. And I have to weigh that against the fact that it

             sounds like you agree that nobody has been injured in any of these incidents.

Thus, per Judge Chun’s reasoning, had David DePape not struck Paul Pelosi, his first-degree entry into the Pelosi home would not warrant custody.   

Nancy Tung, Chief of Special Prosecutions for the District Attorney’s Office argued:

            The Constitution requires that we show, based on clear and convincing

            evidence, that there is a substantial likelihood that the person’s release

            would result in great bodily harm to others.  And I would say that the

            defendant (Gustavo) consistently has used firearms while committing

            criminal offenses in this county and in neighboring county, that this standard

            has been met.

At issue for Judge Chun was that Gustavo had a scheduling conflict because he had not shown up to court in San Mateo County and they had issued a bench warrant for his arrest.  He had previously also missed court in San Francisco during his crime spree.  With a circular rationale, Judge Chun released Gustavo despite his established record of not showing up to his court dates, so that he could take care of his San Mateo warrant.  He was released to home detention without bail and without an ankle monitor to scrutinize his whereabouts.  

So, which leaders are not doing enough?

Consider the contrast of Paul Pelosi and Ms. Zhen as victims:

·      It had to be somewhat reassuring to Pelosi that he was not DePape’s intended victim, Nancy Pelosi was his target; while there was no question to Ms. Zhen, that she was Gustavo’s intended victim.

·      Pelosi stands at 6’1”, while Ms. Zhen is 4’11” and weighs 125 pounds compared to attacker at 6’2 almost 200 pounds.

·      Pelosi was threatened with a hammer, while Ms. Zhen was threatened with a gun.

·      Pelosi was struck with a hammer in the presence of SFPD- meaning there was not a lot of room for further escalation; while Ms. Zhen was essentially kidnapped, threatened with a gun, and robbed, while completely isolated from the world as she agonized that Gustavo might kill-the-witness on his way out the door.

SFPD, San Mateo County, and the SF DA’s office did their jobs.  Actually, they did their jobs quite well.  So, in answer to Ms. Zhen’s daughter’s statement, “Leaders are not doing enough,” I think we should point a finger at Governor Newsom who appointed Judge Chun.  Her resume is stellar.  But sometimes brainy people excel better at focusing on the details of complex white-collar litigation, while at the same time being ill-suited to understand the human downward spiral of the arrestees brought before the justice system.  You can’t learn victims’ trauma and empathy from a textbook and Judge Chun clearly missed an opportune teaching moment to deliver the consequences of pretrial custody to Gustavo. 

Ask yourself: Are you more fearful of crazy DePape running around before his trail with a hammer, or Gustavo patrolling multiple counties with his mobile armory?

SFPD Investigates home invasion. Proximity to prestigious high school in background