SFPD arrests suspects tied to more than $43,000 in retail thefts
SFPD said one suspect hit Walgreens 27 times and another pair stole from Safeway 14 times, part of a crackdown meant to calm shopping corridors.
San Francisco police said repeated thefts at Walgreens and Safeway stores cost retailers more than $43,000, a toll that was felt not just in inventory losses but in the daily strain on stores trying to keep shelves stocked and workers protected.
The most expensive case centered on 24-year-old Tyrese Boswell, whom police said targeted Walgreens locations across San Francisco in 27 separate thefts between late 2025 and April 2026. Investigators said he mainly stole cosmetics and batteries, merchandise that can disappear quickly, be resold easily and force stores to tighten controls on everyday items. Police said Boswell was first arrested on Christmas Eve 2025 after 18 thefts at the Walgreens on the 1100 block of Columbus Avenue, then arrested again on April 4 after seven more thefts, and apprehended a third time on April 16 after returning to the Castro Street store. The value of the stolen merchandise in that series was said to be nearly $40,000.
A separate investigation focused on Safeway stores, where police said reports from asset protection identified two suspects repeatedly targeting meat, seafood and produce. Investigators identified 33-year-old Jacqueline Michael and 35-year-old Darlene Gilbert and said the pair stole more than $3,200 across 14 incidents between Jan. 14 and April 1, 2026. Michael was initially arrested on April 2, and Gilbert was arrested on a warrant the next day.
The San Francisco Police Department said its Organized Retail Crime Task Force has worked closely with local retailers and also with the California Highway Patrol, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department to identify repeat offenders and push cases forward. The department also pointed to two newer state laws now being used in retail-theft cases: Penal Code 666.1, which took effect Dec. 18, 2024 and can turn repeat theft into a felony, and Penal Code 487(e), which took effect Jan. 1, 2025 and allows multiple petty-theft incidents to be aggregated once the total passes $950.
The latest arrests fit into a broader city campaign that has produced periodic surges in enforcement. In April 2025, police said 37 suspects were arrested in three organized-retail-theft operations in the Ingleside District. In July 2025, officers said Samuel Shrimpton and Ryan Twedell were arrested in a 17-case theft investigation involving more than $15,000 in stolen merchandise. In November 2024, police said eight suspects, including juveniles as young as 12, were arrested in a Walgreens theft spree involving at least 23 thefts and more than $84,000 in merchandise, including a violent robbery that left an employee with a serious head injury.
City officials said in 2023 that retail-theft blitzes had produced more than 300 arrests at more than 40 locations and were backed by $17 million in state grant funding. The May arrests suggest the task force is still active, but the lasting test is whether workers and shoppers at Walgreens, Safeway and other chain stores see fewer repeat hits on the ground, not just another headline arrest.
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