A guy who's been in jail on hate crime charges since July, stemming from an incident involving some shouty hate speech at Arizmendi Bakery that escalated into threats of violence, is expected to be released in a couple of weeks after taking a plea deal. As the Bay Area Reporter reports, 54-year-old Arturo Salvador Pleitez, known to be a public nuisance and "notorious bully" around the Mission neighborhood with a rap sheet a mile long for some 174 misdemeanors, will be pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor count of making criminal threats at his sentencing on November 4. He's expected to get credit for time served and get released.
Pleitez was arrested after a July incident at Arizmendi in which he screamed at a female victim who says she was staring at the defendant because he appeared to making another woman at the bakery uncomfortable. He apparently turned to the victim, who is a lesbian, and said, "You can’t look at her. Don’t fucking look at her." She testified that he told her she was going to hell, and that she needed to read the Bible, and also screamed, "I will come over there and I will fuck you up."
Pleitez had previously been charged with two felony counts, along with two hate-crime enhancements, but those have since been dropped. There are also, as the BAR adds, a couple of people around the 'hood who already have restraining orders against him.
Even Captain Dan Perea of Mission Police Station calls this guy "a real serious threat to public safety," but the Public Defender's Office says otherwise. Deputy Public Defender Michelle Tong compared Pleitez to “the neighborhood grouch” as played by Clint Eastwood played in Gran Torino, pointing to his lack of convictions for violent crimes and essentially saying he's just an angry drunk who gets a little loud sometimes.
Anyway, now you have a photo of him. Steer clear, everyone!