1st arrest in SF bait car campaign released after plea deal; car burglar served 11 months in jail

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — No other reporters were in the courtroom Friday besides the ABC7 I-Team, when the first man arrested under San Francisco’s latest bait car program received a plea deal. His car burglary victims are not pleased that 27-year-old Robert Sonza is being released Friday – time served, after 11 months in jail. Sonza has a record of car break-ins, running from police, domestic violence and more.

Dan and Linda Oldiges had their rental car broken into on September 1 of last year. They came from Indiana for a wedding, and parked in this lot so they could tour Alcatraz Prison.

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Dan Oldiges: “You’re in a busy parking lot with, you know, thousands of people all over. Usually, that’s not where crime happens. It happens at late, late at night and-“
Linda Oldiges: “Not in broad daylight.”
Dan Oldiges: “Not in good areas of the town, but this is a tour site.”

They lost cash, a $1,200 iPad, a $3,500 laptop. Police arrested 27-year-old Robert Sonza that same day, after he broke into another rental car and an SFPD bait car. In San Francisco Superior Court Friday morning, Judge Harry Jacobs approved a plea deal – two years in county jail for each of three burglary counts, but the sentences run concurrently. That means, with the 11 months he’s been in jail and with good time credits, Sonza is getting out today.

The ABC7 I-Team’s Dan Noyes broke the news to the couple, Dan Oldiges saying, “Well, I can’t say it surprises me, I mean, the people of San Francisco elect these people. They support them. Yeah, I don’t know what else to say. I- to me, that’s a joke.”

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San Francisco Public Defender Anita Nabha emailed us that Sonza has completed “over 300 hours of programming in custody… working toward college credits”, and that social workers have helped him “identify further opportunities for him to access upon his release.”

A probation violation was also part of this case. In April of 2022, police spotted Sonza driving a stolen SUV used in multiple car break-ins that day.

“The police sort of trapped him,” witness Patrick Rylee said. “This is a one-way street. They trapped him down there.”

Police had Sonza in a dead-end on Union Street past Montgomery, but he sped away, took out this garage on Alta Street, sideswiped cars, and returned to the intersection where Officer Riley Bandy had just pulled up. The I-Team obtained Bandy’s body camera video from that night.

“He just headed right straight for my car and tried to run me over,” SFPD Office Riley Bandy said. “So I had to jump back into my car to avoid getting killed.”

Then, you can see Sonza back up and drive down the sidewalk to avoid police, hit this staircase, take out this Vespa. He made it to Columbus and Broadway where he slammed into a civilian’s car injuring him. Sonza ran from that scene, officers finally catching him a few blocks away in Chinatown.

SFPD officer: “He was in the driver’s seat of our car when the car rammed our car. So, he’s got–“
Riley Bandy: “I can feel it. I’m starting to feel my back kind of lock up.”

Sonza injured two officers and that civilian. At first, prosecutors charged Sonza with several counts of “Assault Upon a Peace Officer with a Deadly Weapon”, “Hit and Run”, “Evading an Officer with Willful Disregard”, “Leaving the Scene of an Accident”, “Resisting Arrest” and a misdemeanor “Possession of Burglar Tools.” In a plea deal, all the charges got dismissed except a single count of “Evading an Officer”.

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Bandy told the I-Team, “I was really surprised to know that they, that they really dropped, you know, to know that they dropped almost everything.”

That court proceeding also included an incident from February 2 of last year. Police responded to the Japantown garage for a report of an auto burglary. Officers tried to detain Sonza as the suspect, but he fled — got in his car, ran over an officer’s foot, and hit a parked car. That case brought nine more charges, including “Assault Upon a Peace Officer”, “Burglary of a Vehicle”, “Hit and Run”, and “Resisting Arrest.”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said, “”I, too, am disappointed,” about Sonza’s release after 11 months in jail.

Dan Noyes: “So the bottom line is, you were pushing for more, but you didn’t get it.”
Brooke Jenkins: “That’s correct, we believe, based on his prior criminal history, as well as the conduct in the new case, that this should be stacked time, so that the old case and the time that he was facing for that should be stacked on top of what we agreed to in the new case, and the judge again, having reviewed his criminal history and heard our arguments, disagreed.”

Robert Sonza was also ordered to pay restitution: $10,000 to the Oldigeses, $4,000 to his other victim that night. But his public defender told the court he is indigent, so he won’t have to pay court fees but is still on the hook for what he stole from those two victims.

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Here is the full statement from San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Anita Nabha:

Today, Mr. Sonza was sentenced to a two-year county jail sentence as the result of a negotiated agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.

Since his arrest in 2023, Mr. Sonza has served nearly a year of jail time where he has earned other time credits for taking advantage of every programming opportunity at his disposal to get his life back on track. Social workers from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office have also worked closely with Mr. Sonza to identify further opportunities for him to access upon his release.

Mr. Sonza is a dedicated son, brother, and father who intends to go back to school to earn more certificates needed to make him an appealing candidate for a union job. As a testament to his dedication, Mr. Sonza completed over 300 hours of programming in custody, which included working toward college credits. Before his arrest last year, he was in the process of completing an apprenticeship program to which he hopes to reapply.

Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.