SAN FRANCISCO—On March 22, the SFDA’s Office announced that Savannah Church, 25 was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment after pleading guilty in San Francisco Superior Court to committing assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury (PC 245(a)(4)), two counts of organized retail theft (PC 490.4(a)(1)) and one count of petty theft (PC 490.2(a)) in connection to a series of retail thefts occurring in San Francisco. She was ordered to pay a total of $43,170.84 in restitution to the victims.
The SF District Attorney’s Office reported in a press release that in these cases, the prosecutors alleged that Church was part of an organized group that committed a series of snatch-and-grab thefts from Walgreens, Sephora, and Bath and Body Works stores in San Francisco from April 23, 2023, through September 15, 2023.
She employed a consistent brazen theft strategy, where Church and others entered the store as a group, rapidly grabbed and concealed merchandise and quickly exited the stores without any attempts to pay for the merchandise. Prosecutors further alleged that the defendant assaulted a person who attempted to stop her from robbing someone on the street.
The case against Church was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Zudekoff, with support and assistance from the paralegal team. Prosecutors were able to develop a strong case based on the careful investigative work of the San Francisco Police Department’s General Work unit, who diligently investigated and reviewed over a dozen incidents, most of which involved the theft of thousands of dollars in merchandise and also included the assault.
“Almost every day, citizens of San Francisco, as well as store employees across the city, have to bear witness to these brazen thefts,” said Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Zudekoff. “This prosecution was successful because of the cooperation of victims, witnesses, store employees, and the fantastic investigation work of the San Francisco Police Department.”
Church has been in custody since her arrest on September 15, 2023.
