A suspect in multiple burglaries in the Outer Sunset in recent weeks has been released from jail for the second time in a month, and both the SFPD and the neighborhood's residents are crying foul at the judge or judges who have let the suspect go free. As KTVU reports, two suspects have been seen in surveillance footage, but one has now been arrested twice, and that is 40-year-old Joseph DePaoli, who is currently on felony probation.
SFPD Commander Greg McEachern tells the station, "It's hard to believe that an individual who has committed so many crimes in such a short period of time and has been arrested, who was already on probation, is allowed to be released by the judicial system."
DePaoli may or may not be the same man caught in the February surveillance video below, broadcast by KRON 4, showing a man in a baseball cap entering the front gate of a home around 4:30 a.m. near the intersection of 20th Avenue and Pacheco. The suspect sees a surveillance camera and, though is face is already fully captured by it, he points it at the ground. He proceeded to root through the victims' garage and stole some items of apparently little value.
DePaoli, along with a second suspect in a backwards baseball cap shown here by KTVU (who could also be the man in the baseball cap in the video above), are believed to have committed a spate of burglaries over President's Day weekend on blocks between Vicente and Santiago, and between 34th Avenues and 41st Avenues. The second suspect has not been found.
DePaoli was arrested, though, two weeks earlier following a burglary on February 9, possibly the same one shown above. After his release, four days after his February 10 arrest, he's believed to have committed several other burglaries, and then was re-arrested around February 22, and released again two days later.
As Hoodline reported, there were 14 burglaries in total, and in all cases but one the suspects only entered garages and stole what they could find there, though in one case they entered an in-law unit and stole two laptops.
Also, reportedly, there was a home invasion robbery on February 22 at an undisclosed location in which four suspects locked a victim in a bathroom. It's unclear if that case may be connected as well.
Taraval Station Capt. Denise Flaherty addressed a community meeting on Friday regarding the burglaries, calling DePaoli a "prolific burglar" who was already on probation for burglary. She said the burglaries quieted down significantly following his arrest, however neighbors remain concerned that he will strike again, as he appears pretty determined.
Anthony Ribera, a former SFPD Police Chief and Director of USF's International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership, tells KTVU, "I think this whole criminal justice reform mentality, I think many of the judges are part of that, part of the problem. We do have professional criminals. They've chosen that as their life's vocation and the criminal justice system has a responsibility to put them out of business."
