Daylight robbery: Brazen shoplifter fills his boots as security guard watches

Shoplifting is a crime typically characterized by stealth.

Yet this week a California crook set out to prove there’s always more than one way to skin a cat – or pilfer from a store.

The maverick miscreant was caught on camera Monday stuffing a garbage bag with wares inside a San Francisco Walgreens before casually exiting on his bike – all while a security guard stood by filming the theft on his cellphone.

The crazy clip, posted on Twitter by KGO-TV reporter Lyanne Melendez, shows the unidentified thief loading up on purloined products alongside his trusty two-wheeled transporter.

This just happened at the @Walgreens on Gough & Fell Streets in San Francisco. #NoConsequences @chesaboudin pic.twitter.com/uSbnTQQk4J
— Lyanne Melendez (@LyanneMelendez) June 14, 2021

Meanwhile, two people — one dressed in a security guard’s uniform — simply stand in the same aisle a few feet away recording proceedings on their phones.

The shoplifter then jumps on his bike and breezily pedals past the pair, as the guard makes a forlorn attempt to swipe the bag of booty.

The shoplifter seen riding his bike down the aisle with a garbage bag full of stolen goods as a woman and a security guard watch — The shameless shoplifter hopped back on his bike once he’d had his fill
(Twitter)

He is last seen riding out through the store’s automatic front doors and off into the metaphorical sunset.

The shoplifter rides out on his bike through the store's automatic front door — The cool-headed crook cycled out through the automatic front doors – past the store’s “Thank you for visiting” sign
(Twitter)

“This just happened at the @Walgreens on Gough & Fell Streets in San Francisco. #NoConsequences,” Melendez wrote in her tweet, which also tagged San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

One respondent to the Twitter post suggested that the theft was “handled correctly.”

“The security guard got it all video and no store patron was injured in the process,” he wrote. “Win-Win. The video will be circulated throughout the Bay Area Law enforcement. Dude is screwed.”

Less encouraged commenters viewed the incident as just another example of the city’s general lawlessness, however.

“Unfortunately this is common practice and more often than not goes unreported,” wrote one dismayed gentleman.

Walgreens alone has closed 17 of its San Francisco stores in the past five years, with rampant shoplifting in the city cited as a key cause, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“The video depicts a crime and we have reported it to the police,” Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso told the newspaper.

“Unfortunately, this is another example of blatant retail theft which is an ongoing problem for retailers in San Francisco.”