SAN FRANCISCO — A man has been charged here with breaking into an FBI truck and stealing thousands of dollars in equipment, including dozens of flash bang grenades, a gas launching gun, surveillance equipment and a ballistics vest he allegedly traded for drugs, court records show.
Gregory Acosta Alvarez was charged earlier this month with theft of government property, a federal offense. His first court date has not been set and he is being held without bail in San Francisco County jail, where he faces charges of burglary, grand theft, trespassing and drug possession, related to both this incident and a 2023 arrest, records show.
The criminal complaint against Acosta Alvarez says he was caught on a security camera breaking into the truck around 6:45 a.m. on Aug. 7, after FBI Special Agent Welton Pollard parked it near 442 Natoma St. in San Francisco. It wasn’t exactly the heist of the century; authorities say various cameras captured Acosta Alvarez getting on a bicycle and riding less than a quarter-mile away to a hotel where he was staying.
Agents were at the hotel by 3 p.m. that same day, but by then they say the ballistics vest and gas gun were missing. Acosta Alvarez allegedly claimed he traded them to someone for $20 worth of methamphetamine. If that’s true, then he drastically undersold; federal authorities estimate the vest alone was worth $1,500.
Authorities say they were able to recover the flash bang grenades, a defibrillator and various other gear during a search of the hotel room.
