The shoplifter must have had an endless struggle with bad breath.
At the Safeway store on Webster Street, the thief was caught trying to steal 127 packs of gum that had a retail value of nearly $400, police said.
It was “expensive gum,” cops said.
Security followed him out of the store, where he was stopped and placed under citizen’s arrest. Cops came and he was charged with burglary, not shoplifting, because he had “no means to pay for the items he stole,” police said.
He also had four warrants for the same crime, police said.
For such an avid thief, it was rather interesting how he chose to rob the gum. He stuffed the gum into a large black plastic bag, cops said, apparently unaware that plastic bags were banned in 2007 at many large retail outlets in San Francisco, including supermarkets like Safeway.
