26-year-old Robert Sonza was in court Thursday for a series of car burglaries and gun charges dating back to 2019, having been given probation and then reoffending each time. Yet an SF Superior Court judge gave him probation yet again, despite more than a dozen arrests.
Multiple-time SF car burglar Robert Sonza has the distinction of being the first car burglar arrested under SFPD’s bait car program in October 2023, and at the time, KGO reported that “Over the past five years, Sonza has been arrested more than a dozen times.” One of those arrests was for a reckless North Beach car chase in April 2022 wherein Sonza was in a stolen car, committed six hit-and-runs, and even rammed into two police cars. Stunningly, he was able to plead down to only one simple charge of evading an officer.
Sonza was back in court Thursday to face yet more car burglary charges. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’s office was seeking a two-year sentence in state prison. But her office did not get anything close to that, as KGO reports that Sonza was once again given probation, and he’ll again be released from SF County Jail.
This was a plea deal, and in exchange, Sonza did plead guilty to charges of receiving stolen property, being an accessory after the fact, possessing a firearm while being a felon, having a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and possession of ammunition. But Sonza will be released from jail four months after his latest arrest, and once again, will only face the same probation he’s violated so many times.
Per KGO, Sonza had to admit he "was on probation” when his latest crimes were committed and that his "prior performance on probation” was “unsatisfactory." Judge Bruce Chan did add a condition that if Sonza reoffended, he could face up to three years and eight months in state prison.
Still, Jenkins was apoplectic over the judge’s ruling. "I think we have a culture at the Hall of Justice here in San Francisco of judges viewing property crime as less significant, finding opportunities to not hear trials and to send people back out to sadly use the courthouse as a revolving door," she told KGO.
As of Friday morning, SF County Jail records show Sonza is still in custody, and has another court date set for January 10. But those records also show Sonza is scheduled to be “Delivered to Other Jurisdiction,” as he’s reportedly got a $200,000 warrant from Contra Costa County for resisting arrest and fleeing an officer.
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