Thief ransacks FBI truck in San Francisco, trades pricey gear for $20 worth of meth: court records

A thief raided an FBI truck in broad daylight in San Francisco last month, making off with flash-bang grenades, a tear gas launcher, surveillance equipment and bulletproof vests — which he allegedly traded for a $20 bag of methamphetamine.

Gregory Acosta-Alvarez, 29, was arrested earlier this month after he was allegedly caught on multiple surveillance cameras breaking into the truck around 6:45 a.m. on Aug. 7 when it was parked downtown on Natoma Street, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported, citing court records.

After loading up on ill-gotten equipment, he mounted his bicycle and rode to a hotel he was staying at less than a quarter-mile away, according to the criminal complaint viewed by the outlet.

Agents paid him a visit at the hotel by 3 p.m. that afternoon, but by then a ballistics vest — valued at around $1,500 — and the tear gas gun were nowhere to be found.

When investigators quizzed Alvarez about the bumbling-yet-brazen heist, he claimed to have traded the missing items for $20 worth of meth.

He remains in custody awaiting charges on felony theft of government property, burglary, grand theft and drug possession, both in connection with this incident and an arrest in 2023.