Window-smash auto burglary loopholes targeted in proposed California law

Summer Rae Worsham was only inside her new apartment in the Tower District for a few hours Friday when police knocked on her door.

She learned that someone had broken the window of her rented Nissan, parked near East Cornell and North Wishon avenues, and made off with an estimated $2,000 in property, including most of her wardrobe, cigarettes and medications.

A neighbor, Lisa Lopez, saw the man pulling items out of the window of the car, and was momentarily perplexed. Why was the car owner taking things out the window? She quickly realized it was a break-in and shouted for him to stop.

“He didn’t even care,” said Lopez, who added that he came back for more items before fleeing just before police arrived.

Window-smash auto thefts like the one victimizing Worsham are targeted for change in California law under a bill authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco.

Wiener’s district is ground zero for smash-and-grab auto burglars. A reported 70 break-ins take place every day. And according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, simply proving that a defendant broke a window is often insufficient to gain an auto burglary conviction. Victims are often asked to testify that their doors were locked.

Then-San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón argued that many auto burglaries have been dismissed in cases where the victim cannot testify for certain that the door was locked, the suspect left the door open, or the victim cannot be found to testify.

Closing a loophole

Gascón urged Wiener to add the words “or when forced entry is used” to the law.

Gascón pushed for the change because auto burglaries are “just completely out of control,” according to Wiener. The senator first tried to get the bill passed in 2018, but said a logjam of legislation held the measure over until 2019.

“I think it will happen,” he said.

Auto burglaries are also a vexing issue in Fresno, and the subject of many complaints on Facebook and Nextdoor social media sites. The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office could not be reached to comment on the change, but Tony Botti, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, said such cases could also be prosecuted as felony vandalism if the damage was more than $400.

Back at the Friday Tower District break-in, it was only when Worsham opened the car door that the Nissan’s car alarm went off.

Worsham said she was hopeful her personal property insurance would compensate her for the loss of her property. But she will have to pay for the window on the rented Nissan, about $200 out of her pocket.

As of Friday afternoon, the suspect in the break-in was still at large, police reported.