According to a story in the Examiner today, an employee of the high-end Clift Hotel, home of Asia de Cuba and the Redwood Room, snuck into a woman's room "to sexually assault her." Now, that wording leaves it uncertain as to whether 30-year-old housekeeping employee and suspect Christian Rojas actually carried out the assault, but the point remains: Gross and scary.

The hotel identified Rojas' key card using its electronic card tracking system, according to the Ex. "Rojas was arrested shortly after the investigation on sexual battery and burglary charges," the article states.

While the incident appears to be isolated and unconnected to the restaurant, and the hotel is cooperating with the police investigation, the whole nasty thing reminds one that there are creeps out there, and it is best to be careful. Throw that deadbolt, don't hang your purse over the back of your chair, and for God's sake be polite to your waiter.
Hotel employee arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting guest [Examiner]
Asia de Cuba [MenuPages]
Asia de Cuba [Official Site]

So sad: This news from the San Francisco Chronicle about a man getting shot to death in Oakland while on a late-night taco run. According to the article, this is at least the second taco truck slaying in Oakland this year. Yikes. Is nothing sacred?

Oakland man slain on late-night run to taco truck [SF Chronicle]

Here's an excerpt from the San Francisco Police Department's daily crime log, courtesy of the Examiner. Who knew such mayhem went on in the sleepy lower Sunset?

Syringe-wielding shoplifter: Officers went to Safeway, on the 700 block of Taraval Street, where a shoplifter had been confronted by security after he had left the store at 11:40 p.m. Feb. 3. The shoplifter pulled out a syringe and threatened to infect the security officers. The employees surrounded the suspect and took him to the ground. The suspect, who lives on the 2100 block of Mission Street, was arrested for robbery, felony assault and possession of illegal narcotics.

Wonder if he was upset about the farm-raised salmon labeling?

SF Police Blotter: Neighborhood Crime Log [SF Examiner]

The story about the 3,200 bottles of "Calfiornia Champagne" that were seized and destroyed by EU authorities in Belgium seems like a run-of-the-mill customs bust, which it pretty much was. Only this one has an extremely graphic video attached, showing the systematic pulverizing of the poor, poor beverages, who were only trying to pass through nasty old Europe on their way to a cruise ship.

But justice is blind, and in Europe, justice means not selling any beverage as "Champagne" that wasn't actually produced in the Champagne region of France. Fair enough, but couldn't you have given the contraband away or something? Here's the video [Via Buzzed]:

Sparkling Wine Snuff Film [Buzzed]
California Wine Seized in Belgium [Wines and Vines]

Gotta love these bumbling crook stories:

It seems a former Peet's Coffee employee who was previously arrested in a burglary of the Peets San Rafael store tried it again, this time sticking up another Peet's in Corte Madera.

Only, Marin's not that big and there is a finite number of Peet's, so the masked Robert Merrill, 29, and his accomplice, Michael Herrin, also 29, should probably have picked a different chain to hit. From the Chronicle:

Despite the mask, said Miller, one of the employees recognized Merrill from the earlier incident and reported his name to investigators. Herrin, his roommate, was on probation in Contra Costa County for an unrelated incident.

Ha, oops. Hey, when you find a gig you like, like getting busted for robbing your old job, you stick with it, right?

Former employee robs coffee shop, police say [SF Chronicle]

A fire at the Star of India restaurant in Russian Hill early this morning turned tragic when firefighters discovered two bodies among the rubble.

The two victims--thought to be employees or possibly the owners of the restaurant--were apparently asleep when the blaze erupted at a5:38 a.m., a fire captain interviewed on KTVU said this morning. They were sleeping in a loft above the kitchen that was not designated as a legal dwelling.

Firefighters brought the one-alarm blaze under control by 5:57 a.m., according to the Examiner. Investigators have not ruled the fire as suspicious.

We'll post updates to this story as they become available.

Restaurant fire kills two in S.F. [Examiner]
Two People Dead After San Francisco Restaurant Fire [KTVU]

Maybe you remember that woman who was arrested for theft last May after police found hundreds of stolen credit cards and thousands of dollars worth of hot merchandise at her house? She was preying mostly on diners in high-end restaurants.

We remember the story well because we wrote it. But that's beside the point.

The latest on that case, as the District Attorney's office reported last month, is that Charity Owens, 27, pleaded guilty in September to one count of being in possession of the identifications of more than 10 people, and three counts of grand theft. From the DA's press release:

According to court documents, defendant Owens was charged with stealing customers’ purses or wallets by entering different businesses, mostly restaurants or bars in San Francisco such as the Elite Restaurant, the Bar Tartine, the Koh Samui and the MonkeyCafé Museo.

On Oct. 17, the DA reported, judge Harold Kahn sentenced Owens to four years in state prison and ordered her to pay restitution of more than $8,000 to victims.

Defendant who Stole IDs by Snatching Purses and Wallets Sentenced to Four Years State Prison [Text of DA press release]
Alleged S.F. purse thieves arrested

One story we missed in our weeklies roundup yesterday was this gigantic feature in the SF Weekly on Fanatics Sports Bar, aka Fanatics Ultra Lounge. We went there once for an amateur boxing match and it was rowdy, yes, but we figured that's because we were at, well, an amateur boxing match.

Turns out the owner had a bit of trouble making the place float (longshoremen don't want $15 lunches?), and had to fall back on catering to a younger crowd to bring in the bucks. That led to a spate of stabbings and shootings in the already troubled neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point. From the Weekly:

"What the port approved was a bar and restaurant with entertainment for the 35-and-over crowd," said the port's real estate director, Susan Reynolds. "Had we known what [Fanatics owner] Mr. [Derf] Butler had in mind, we never would have approved it. Absolutely not."

Well, the article goes on to detail Butler's criminal history, which consists mainly of fraud. After getting busted for hanging paper in Chicago, Butler moved back to San Francisco and re-invented himself as a political hotshot, donating money to Amos Brown's 1998 re-election, and making friends with Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and Mark Leno, the Weekly reports.

And this is the group of lawmakers/enforcers charged with bringing down the city's homicide rate?

No Freaking Way:

SFist pointed out a story in CQ Politics about the FBI using local grocery store sales records to identify potential security threats:

"The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area," the article states.

Aw, come on, guys, don't stop there. Maybe the FBI should monitor toilets as well, so they can see who, exactly is eating, say, falafel. Sheesh.

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here [CQ Politics]

One does not normally think of bakeries as particularly dangerous, no more so than the average linen shop or marshmallow storehouse, but back in May, one sleepy neighborhood cheese and baked goods emporium became the site of a brutal, apparently random attack on a local teenager.
Yesterday, Matthew Cate, California Inspector General, released a report indicating that California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation authorities made a boo boo when they released 26-year-old inmate Scott Thomas into the general public. Thomas' parole officer did not meet him right outside the prison, as directed for high-control inmates, according to the report. Also, the prison released him on a Friday, which is forbidden for such high-risk inmates as Thomas.
Thomas was released on May 18. The next day, he walked into Creighton's Bakery, a sleepy Twin Peaks staple, and reportedly stabbed 15-year-old Loren Schaller several times with a big hunting knife, giving her nerve damage in her right arm, among other injuries. He also stabbed another bakery customer who came to Schaller's assistance.
According to the Chronicle, Schaller's family is suing the state over the incident. We're no lawyers, but we bet yesterday’s little doosie of a report will help their case just a little.

Blunders in inmate's unsupervised release ended in girl's stabbing [San Francisco Chronicle]
Full Report [California Inspector General]

Photo Credit: Wes M.