San Francisco Police Arrest Bank Robbery and Burglary Suspect 20-043
On Friday, April 10, 2020, at approximately 6:04 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Richmond Station responded to the 3300 block of Balboa Street in regards to a burglary. Officers arrived and found a window broken out of the front of a business. Officers met with the business owner and conducted a walk-through of the building. The owner determined that nothing had been taken.
On Friday, April 10, 2020, at approximately 7:35 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Richmond Station responded to the 3500 block of Balboa Street in regards to a burglary. Officers arrived and found a window broken out of the front of a business. Officers met with the business owner and conducted a walk-through of the building. The owner determined that an undetermined amount of US currency was taken from the business.
On Friday, April 10, 2020, at approximately 7:38 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Richmond Station responded to the 3600 block of Balboa Street in regards to a burglary. Officers arrived and found a window broken out of the front of a business. Officers met with the business owner and conducted a walk-through of the building. The owner determined that four tablet computers were taken from inside the restaurant.
On Friday, April 10, 2020, at approximately 7:45 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Richmond Station responded to the 3600 block of Balboa Street in regards to a burglary. Officers arrived and found a window broken out of the front of a business. Officers met with the business owner and conducted a walk-through of the building. The owner determined that an undetermined amount of US currency was taken from the business.
On Saturday April 11, 2020 at approximately 3:45 AM San Francisco Police officers from Central Station responded to the 2200 block of Mason Street in regards to a burglary. Officers arrived and found a window broken out of the front of a business. Officers met with a witness who said he heard the sound of glass breaking outside his residence. The witness observed a subject crawl through a broken window on the business and crawl out moments later. Officers later met with an employee of the business who said that an undetermined amount of US currency and a soda were taken from the business.
On Monday, April 13, 2020, at approximately 3:09 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Taraval Station responded to the 1200 block of 9th Avenue for a report of a burglary. Officers arrived and found a window broken out of the front of a business. Officers met with the business manager and conducted a walk-through of the building. The owner determined that nothing had been taken.
On Wednesday, April 15, 2020, at approximately 10:05 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Taraval Station responded to the 2200 block of Irving Street for a report of a bank robbery. Officers met with a teller from the bank who said that an unknown suspect entered the bank and passed a note to her. The note said that the suspect was robbing the bank and demanded money. Fearing for her safety the teller complied and gave the suspect US currency. The suspect then fled the scene.
On Friday, April 17, 2020, at approximately 10:15 AM, San Francisco Police officers from Richmond Station responded to the 300 block of 6th Avenue for a report of a bank robbery. Officers met with a teller from the bank who said that the suspect approached her window and placed a note on the counter saying that he had a gun and was robbing the bank. Fearing for her safety the teller complied and gave the suspect US currency. The suspect then fled the scene.
Investigators from SFPD’s Robbery and Burglary Details commenced an investigation that led to the identity of the suspect wanted in connection for all the above incidents. On Friday, April 17, 2020, at approximately 5:25 PM San Francisco Police officers arrested 39-year-old Benjamin Chase of San Francisco. Chase was booked at San Francisco County Jail on multiple counts of burglary, grand theft, robbery, vandalism, looting, and parole violation.
A booking photo of Chase accompanies this news release.
While an arrest has been made, if you have any information related to these incidents, we encourage you to contact the SFPD anonymous tip line at 1-415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.