Four Charged in SF Robbery Spree Targeting Elderly, Multiple Vehicles

An elderly woman waiting for a bus near the 2200 block of Irving Street was robbed of her purse in what prosecutors say was the opening act of a coordinated crime spree that reached from the Inner Sunset to cultural landmarks in Lands End and the Marina, all in a single day.

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday that Daija Bartholomew, 25; Jamaul Mullins, 22; Major Skinner, 18; and Charles Eason, 25, were arraigned and charged in connection with the April 1 incidents. All four pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 16 in San Francisco Superior Court.

Prosecutors charged each defendant with second-degree robbery, elder abuse, and multiple counts of vehicular burglary and unlawful entry into a vehicle. The robbery count carries an allegation that at least one victim was elderly. Eason faces two additional hit-and-run counts stemming from collisions that eventually disabled the group's vehicle near Van Ness and Lombard, on the border of the Marina and Russian Hill.

The alleged spree began with the bus stop robbery on Irving, where the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and declined medical treatment. Surveillance and investigative work connected the same car, a vehicle stolen from Hayward, to auto burglaries near the Legion of Honor, and then to additional break-ins near the Palace of Fine Arts, where the group allegedly cased parked cars before striking. Law enforcement recovered multiple pieces of stolen property from the vehicle, which were returned to victims.

The case carries added weight because prosecutors noted prior second-degree robbery convictions for both Bartholomew and Skinner, making the elder-abuse enhancements the DA's office attached to the charges particularly significant. Those enhancements reflect an explicit prosecutorial strategy of pursuing stiffer penalties when victims are elderly or otherwise vulnerable.

The April 16 preliminary hearing will determine whether prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence to send all four defendants to trial.