Pickpocket Crew That Targeted Pedestrians In SF's Chinatown Arrested: Police

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A crew of pickpocket suspects targeting people in San Francisco's Chinatown has been taken into custody, police said.

Police say the investigation into the crew started with a rise in pickpocket thefts in April. During one incident, one person had nearly $4,000 in property stolen from him by a pickpocket, authorities said.

Using plainclothes officers and a surveillance support team from its Real Time Investigation Center, the officers were able to identify a suspect vehicle being used in the thefts and the identifies or three suspects involved, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

On Saturday, officers witnessed the suspects drive into San Francisco and park in Chinatown, where they began casing pedestrians, police said.

There, as officers watched, the crew stealthily pickpocketed pedestrians while others acted as a lookout, police said.

After seeing them pickpocket three people, the officers took the suspects into custody and returned the stolen items to the victims, police said.

The suspects, meanwhile, were taken into custody on suspicion of grand theft, conspiracy, and possession of stolen property, police said.

While serving a warrant at a Vallejo home connected with the suspects, officers found more stolen property and $14,000 in cash, authorities said.

Police identified them as Vallejo residents Stefan Ruset, 35, Marian Constantine, 30 and Florin Matei, 26.

"Criminals targeting Chinatown, or any other community in San Francisco, is simply unacceptable," San Francisco Police Department Chief Derrick Lew said. "I want to thank members of the Central Station for their continued partnership with the merchants to demonstrate the highest level of community policing that keeps our city and Chinatown safe."