Drop Dead Fred
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- Jun 6, 2020
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In San Francisco, they have video proof, Apple AirTag proof, and lots of other evidence that this serial car thief has stolen a huge number of Volkswagen Vanagons. He’s even stolen some of the same ones multiple times. They keep finding him with the evidence again and again and again. But they refuse to prosecute him. The people of San Francisco are getting exactly what they voted for.
Someone keeps stealing VW Vanagons in San Francisco. Where are the police?
Someone keeps stealing VW Vanagons in San Francisco. Where are the police?
By St. John Barned-Smith
August 7, 2023
When Terence Hermiston thinks of his 1982 Volkswagen Vanagon, he recalls the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars he spent rebuilding the cream-yellow jalopy during the pandemic. He harks back to his return to Canada and the U.S. after years abroad, and the feeling of adventure it rekindled as he rattled up and down the coast with his wife and young son in his “sailboat on wheels.”
Produced for the U.S. market from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Vanagons — the name evoking the room of a van and the feel of a station wagon — have become cult classics popular with West Coast road trippers and adventurers. At the same time, they’ve attracted another form of attention: the keen eye of car thieves drawn to their spaciousness and lack of modern anti-theft features.
So it is with Hermiston’s plight. His angular dream machine has been stolen three times from outside his home in Noe Valley since September. And one man appears to be the culprit in each theft — a serial car booster whom San Francisco authorities have failed to stop, despite an abundance of evidence.
One victim found the man’s birth certificate in a van post-recovery. Others said they saw him messing with wiring inside their vehicle, spied him on a Ring doorbell camera video, and retrieved their belongings from his encampment.
Hermiston and other San Francisco Vanagon owners have taken to confronting the man, whose first name is Donald, in an effort to seize their vehicles and any stolen property inside. (The Chronicle is not identifying the man by his full name, because he has not been charged with a crime in any of these incidents.) The Vanagon victims have created an ad hoc network to share information and respond to the thefts.
Someone keeps stealing VW Vanagons in San Francisco. Where are the police?
Someone keeps stealing VW Vanagons in San Francisco. Where are the police?
By St. John Barned-Smith
August 7, 2023
When Terence Hermiston thinks of his 1982 Volkswagen Vanagon, he recalls the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars he spent rebuilding the cream-yellow jalopy during the pandemic. He harks back to his return to Canada and the U.S. after years abroad, and the feeling of adventure it rekindled as he rattled up and down the coast with his wife and young son in his “sailboat on wheels.”
Produced for the U.S. market from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Vanagons — the name evoking the room of a van and the feel of a station wagon — have become cult classics popular with West Coast road trippers and adventurers. At the same time, they’ve attracted another form of attention: the keen eye of car thieves drawn to their spaciousness and lack of modern anti-theft features.
So it is with Hermiston’s plight. His angular dream machine has been stolen three times from outside his home in Noe Valley since September. And one man appears to be the culprit in each theft — a serial car booster whom San Francisco authorities have failed to stop, despite an abundance of evidence.
One victim found the man’s birth certificate in a van post-recovery. Others said they saw him messing with wiring inside their vehicle, spied him on a Ring doorbell camera video, and retrieved their belongings from his encampment.
Hermiston and other San Francisco Vanagon owners have taken to confronting the man, whose first name is Donald, in an effort to seize their vehicles and any stolen property inside. (The Chronicle is not identifying the man by his full name, because he has not been charged with a crime in any of these incidents.) The Vanagon victims have created an ad hoc network to share information and respond to the thefts.
