Suspects Arrested, Stolen Scooter Donated By Giants' Pence Recovered
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Two of three suspects have been arrested in connection with the burglary Saturday of the Make-A-Wish Foundation's San Francisco office, in which numerous items were stolen including a scooter donated by San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, police said Tuesday.
Mayor Ed Lee was speaking to the media late Tuesday morning about the city providing eight iPads to the office to replace the ones that were taken during the weekend break-in when he learned the scooter had been located.
"Police have recovered the scooter!" Lee exclaimed to applause. "Hunter Pence! Hunter Pence! Yes!"
The announcement was just the cherry on top of his earlier news. The replacement iPads were being donated on behalf of the mayor's office and the San Francisco Giants.
With property and car break-ins at an all-time high, Mayor Lee reiterated how the city could be safer.
"This is on the minds of a lot of residents and small businesses and so I want to do my best --both in the budget but also from the perspective of supporting the officers out there -- to do even more to prevent this from happening," said Lee.
These donated iPads are ones that were originally given to mayors from around the country when San Francisco hosted the U.S Conference of Mayors last June.
Some mayors returned the iPads and wanted Mayor Lee's office to give them to charities. The break-in and theft at the Make-A-Wish Foundation office unfortunately gave Lee a chance to fulfill that request.
Judd Janke, 37, and Nicholas Tiller, 26, were both arrested around 6:30 p.m. Monday in the 400 block of Market Street, according to police.
Janke was arrested on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy, false impersonation, possession of narcotics and possession of burglary tools. Tiller was arrested on suspicion of possession of narcotics, burglary, possession of burglary tools and probation violation, police said.
A third unidentified suspect remains at large and police are actively seeking the suspect.
Investigators identified the suspects after reviewing surveillance video from the burglary. The trio has been linked to a series of other burglaries in the area, according to police.
After serving search warrants in the area of Fourth Street, officers were able to recover the stolen battery-powered scooter, which was an autographed black model with orange decals of Pence's name and his jersey number 8, police said.
Pence acquired the scooter shortly after joining the Giants in 2012 and donated it to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The scooter was sold at auction last year for $40,000, but the charity has been holding it in the office for the purchaser, according to the organization.
During the burglary of the Make-A-Wish Foundation's office, located at 55 Hawthorne St., the suspects also allegedly took a backpack worth around $350 that had been donated for an upcoming charity auction, as well as some iPad minis, laptops, gift cards and a personal backpack.
Saturday's burglary is not the first time the Make-A-Wish Foundation office has been broken into, and it is not the first time the scooter has been stolen.
This was the second time the scooter had been stolen. Before Pence donated it, the scooter was stolen, and later returned to him in 2014.
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