Serial Catalytic Converter Thieves Busted in SF

San Francisco police said two men were arrested after officers investigating an auto burglary at Stonestown Mall tracked a suspect vehicle to El Cerrito Plaza and found six stolen catalytic converters inside. The arrests followed a May 7 burglary report at the mall, where officers were told suspects had broken into a vehicle and stolen items, according to a San Francisco Police Department statement published May 13. Police said the department’s Real Time Investigation Center and citywide plainclothes officers helped locate the vehicle. The men were later booked after officers recovered stolen property, burglary tools and the catalytic converters, police said. ### How did the arrests start at Stonestown Mall? On May 7 at about 10 a.m., San Francisco officers responded to an auto burglary at Stonestown Mall, according to the police statement. Witnesses told police that unknown suspects were seen breaking into a vehicle and taking property from inside, the department said. The Real Time Investigation Center, known as RTIC, then helped officers search for the suspect vehicle, police said. (sanfranciscopolice.org) San Francisco police did not identify the burglary victim in the public statement, but said the investigation quickly moved beyond the mall after officers developed information on the vehicle involved. ### Why did officers end up in El Cerrito Plaza? (sanfranciscopolice.org) El Cerrito Plaza became the focus after San Francisco plainclothes officers located the suspect vehicle there, police said. The department said officers found the vehicle and two suspects in the shopping center area and took both men into custody without incident. Police said the arrests were supported by the citywide plainclothes team working with RTIC. (sanfranciscopolice.org) The department’s statement did not say how long the suspects had been in El Cerrito before officers arrived or whether additional agencies assisted at the plaza. ### Who did police arrest, and what did they say they found? SFPD identified one suspect as 34-year-old Wyatt Zapien of Brentwood. (sanfranciscopolice.org) The department also identified the second suspect by the surname Fries and said he is from Bay Point. Police said officers developed probable cause to arrest both men. During a search of the vehicle, officers recovered property believed stolen in the Stonestown burglary, along with auto burglary tools and six stolen catalytic converters, according to the police statement. (sanfranciscopolice.org) The department did not list the specific tools in the May 13 release or say in that statement which vehicles the catalytic converters had been taken from. ### Was this tied to other catalytic-converter cases in San Francisco? San Francisco police have separately announced other catalytic-converter investigations this year. In a March 9 statement, the department said burglary investigators had identified a white four-door sedan linked to multiple reported thefts across the city and arrested 19-year-old Deric Gonzalez-Rodriguez on Jan. 29 on several felony grand theft counts. (sanfranciscopolice.org) The May 13 arrest notice did not explicitly say the Stonestown case was connected to that earlier investigation. Still, the recovery of six stolen catalytic converters in the El Cerrito Plaza arrest shows investigators were dealing with more than a single mall burglary when officers searched the vehicle. ### What happens next in the case? (sanfranciscopolice.org) The May 13 police statement said the investigation remains open. San Francisco police did not release charging details in the public notice beyond saying officers had probable cause to arrest the two suspects. San Francisco residents seeking more detail can request incident reports through the department’s online records portal, which the agency says is its secure system for obtaining police reports. (sanfranciscopolice.org) The next public updates would typically come through court filings, jail records or a follow-up police release. (sanfranciscopolice.org)