Police arrest suspect in dozens of hate crime burglaries, vandalism

San Francisco police have arrested a man believed to have committed more than 30 burglaries and acts of vandalism — all of them considered hate crimes — since April in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood and the Ocean Avenue corridor.

Derik Barreto, 36, was initially detained Aug. 11 and was soon arrested and booked in county jail on suspicion of multiple offenses, including four counts of second-degree burglary, 27 counts of vandalism, 31 counts of a hate crime and four counts of possession of burglary tools.

What made the offenses hate crimes was not explained in a news release issued Wednesday by the San Francisco Police Department.

The arrest by the officers from the department’s Taraval Station came soon after they determined that the burglaries and vandalisms followed a similar pattern and were connected.

Police urge anyone with information about the case to call the department’s tip line at (415) 575-4444 or text a tip anonymously to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.