Miraloma Park residents upset at DA for lack of action on burglary

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Some people living in a San Francisco neighborhood are very upset with the district attorney's office. Homeowners helped police nab two would be burglars in their Miraloma Park neighborhood, but the charges were dropped.

A letter has caused a firestorm in the Miraloma Park district of San Francisco. The neighbor whose home was burglarized says he was told there would be no charges.

ABC7 News went to the district attorney's office for a response and they said the case is actually on hold. They say they only get one bite of the apple, something called double jeopardy, so if charges are filed, they say they want to be sure they file the right ones.

"I'm disgusted... I really am," neighbor Karen Wood said.

Wood is a board member of the Miraloma Park Improvement Club. They sent out copies of a letter, addressed to District Attorney George Gascon, to neighborhood residents saying they were appalled by his office's decision to drop all charges against two burglary suspects.

It happened on the morning of April 30 at a home on Marietta Street. An alert neighbor saw from his window two men and a car parked in front of the house. He heard suspicious noises in the back and decided to call 911. Officers quickly responded and captured the two men. Everything went the way it should have.

However, the district attorney's office told the homeowner no charges were filed against the two men. One was released. The other is still detained, but only because he's possibly tied to an attempted murder case. The district attorney's decision has galvanized the neighborhood.

Debbie Shea lives on the same block and says home burglaries can turn out to be violent. She told ABC7 News, "There's the possibility of mothers being home with young children, taking a nap in the afternoon when this occurs."

"How can we possibly ask people to call police when they see suspicious activity when something like this happens and everybody knows about it?" Wood said.

District Attorney spokesman Alex Bastian told ABC7 News, the case has not been dropped and that it is still under investigation. Bastian said, "We need to make sure the evidence is in place thoroughly and completely prior to charging a case, in order to make sure the charges adequately reflect the crime."

Bastian says the two were arrested before they took anything from the home. Charging them with trespassing would only be a misdemeanor. If they could, they'd rather go with a more serious felony like burglary