Police arrest man suspected in string of retail thefts

Police arrested a 40-year-old man Saturday morning wanted for a string of retail thefts in recent days in the city’s Lower Haight and Mission districts.

Alert officers recognized the suspect enter a drug store in the 400 block of Haight Street at 8:34 a.m. When the officers entered the shop, the suspect was clearing shelves of cosmetics into a duffel bag.

They arrested him without incident. The bag contained nearly $1,000 in merchandise.

For this specific case, police arrested Jean Lugo-Romero for attempted grand theft, entering a business with the intent to commit theft, possession of drug paraphernalia and for an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failing to appear in court on a prior theft case.

Police also arrested Lugo-Romero — whom they described as prolific — on suspicion of committing five other thefts since May 29, four of them in the 300 block of Gough Street, including two robberies and two burglaries.

The fifth occurred in the same 400 block of Haight Street just two days before Saturday’s arrest.

In surveillance camera footage from one of the incidents, police said, Lugo-Romero placed stolen merchandise into a bag and rode a bicycle out of the store to make his getaway. San Francisco police tweeted a news release about the incident at 6:53 p.m. Saturday.