When parolee Troy McAlister struck and killed 60-year-old Elizabeth Platt and 27-year-old Hanako Abe in San Francisco on Dec. 31, 2020, he was driving a car stolen from a woman after he displayed a firearm. According to newly obtained information, that arrest was one of several over a six-month period that should have resulted in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO), and San Francisco Parole Unit 1 agents and supervisors issuing a parole hold, despite relaxed Covid protocols.
During the pandemic, California’s prison system used the potential spread of coronavirus to justify the early release of over 25,000 inmates and parolees. In April 2020, following Governor Newsom’s State of Emergency proclamation, parole agents received a memo instructing them to avoid sending parolees to jail or prison except when there was “an imminent threat to public safety or when state statutes require detaining them.” The memo also stated that agents “should not conduct routine inspections of parolees’ living quarters or test them for drugs.”
Police notified Vasquez after four of the five arrests, but each time Vasquez declined to initiate proceedings to hold McAlister in jail or send him back to prison.
In a May 11, 2020, email sent by Parole Agent III(A) Tom Porter of San Francisco Parole Unit 1 to his agents, additional orders included limiting field and home visits only to “recent releases and parolees who could not be contacted,” as well as refusing to assist outside law enforcement agencies — a duty distinctly outlined in the job description of parole officers. Porter also instructed his agents that they “must not search for violations.” In a copy of the email received by The Voice, one of the people addressed is Roberto Vasquez, who served as Troy McAlister’s parole agent.
In a previous memo, dated May 8, from DAPO Director Jeffrey Green and addressed to all Division of Adult Parole Operations Staff, however, there were exceptions for returning parolees to jail or prison, including “serious violations where there is a clear, imminent, and articulable risk to public safety” as well as “mandatory violations, to include violations of Penal Code 3010.10,” which defines serious felonies that are grounds for revoking parole including grand theft, carjacking, any felony in which the defendant uses a firearm, and first degree burglary (entering the home of another person with the intent to commit theft).
After the deaths of Abe and Platt, finger pointing commenced, in particular between then San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and CDRC. Court records show McAlister was facing 35 years to life in prison because he already had three strikes under California’s three strikes law — two for robbery and one for attempted carjacking. Because Boudin promised not to charge strike enhancements, McAlister was able to take a plea deal for time served and, in April 2020, he was released. Within months, McAlister was back to his life of crime.
On June 28, 2020, at 11:04 p.m., San Francisco police officers responded to the Ingleside District regarding a residential burglary in progress. The victim stated the suspect was inside her apartment. Officers observed signs of forced entry including damage to the door. They arrested McAlister hiding in the woman’s home for possession of burglary tools, giving a false name to a peace officer, and a parole violation. It also could have qualified as first degree burglary since McAlister “entered another person’s home with the intent to commit theft.”
At 11:32 a.m. on Aug. 20, 2020, officers responded to the 1800 block of Great Highway where a victim had tracked his stolen vehicle. Officers discovered McAlister in the driver’s seat. He was arrested for vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, possession of narcotics for sale, and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.
On Oct. 15, officers responded to 19th Avenue regarding a stolen vehicle. The witness said the car was driven to that location and the suspect exited and fled on foot. Officers stopped and detained McAlister. While creating an inventory of his property, two individuals approached them to say their car was broken into and their cell phone was stolen. The victims tracked the phone to this location, and officers determined McAlister was in possession of the stolen phone. Officers also found methamphetamine during their search. McAlister was arrested for vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, possession of narcotics, and parole violations, as well as for the cell phone theft.
McAlister brandished a firearm with an extended magazine and said he carried it in case ‘people became ignorant.’
Parole agent and supervisors ignore multiple revocable violations
One of the most prophetic arrests occurred on Nov. 6 at 2 a.m., when San Francisco State University Police answered a call about a man breaking into a parked car at 800 Font Street. The witness identified the suspect and officers once again detained McAlister, who admitted to breaking into the vehicle. Officers asked why he was limping, to which McAlister responded that he had been shot during an argument a few months ago at Park Merced. Officers also noted that McAlister was wearing a GPS ankle monitor. After arresting him for felony auto burglary and possession of burglary tools, officers checked the suspect’s record and were so alarmed that they included a note in their report which stated, “This suspect is dangerous. He has 73 felonies and 34 misdemeanors in S.F. alone.” That report, with the note, was added to McAlister’s parole file.
On Dec. 20, 2020, at approximately 9:36 p.m., officers conducted a computer query of a car being driven on Eddy and Jones streets. The license plate came back as a reported stolen vehicle. Officers stopped the car and a search turned up drug paraphernalia and other stolen items. They arrested (you guessed it) McAlister for possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of possession of stolen property, possession of suspected methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Any of these five incidents, which included multiple felonies, proved McAlister to be a “clear, imminent, and articulable risk to public safety” and should have been enough for agents to issue a parole hold. In fact, Boudin called CDCR out for not doing so, but CDCR turned it back around on him. “None of the parolee’s arrests following his 2020 release have yet to result in filings of criminal charges by the District Attorney. Our parole office followed all procedures after these incidents, including conducting investigations and making appropriate referrals for the individual,” they said in a statement.
But it turns out, that’s not true. According to sources (who requested anonymity for fear of professional retaliation), police notified Vasquez after four of the five arrests, but each time Vasquez declined to initiate proceedings to hold McAlister in jail or send him back to prison. While each subsequent arrest revealed a career criminal on a dangerous collision course, it was the sixth arrest, just two days before Abe and Platt were killed, that patently violated PC 3010.10 because it involved grand theft, carjacking, and a felon brandishing a firearm.
‘‘I carry a gun in case people become ignorant’’
Around 5 p.m. on Dec. 29, 2020, Daly City police responded to the parking lot of Nation’s Giant Hamburgers in Westlake Center to the report of a stolen vehicle. According to the police report, the victim told officers she had met a man on a dating app called Tagged, and that he went by the name “Ray.” The pair had chatted online for several weeks, and this was their second time meeting in person. The woman said they “hung out for a few hours beginning around 8 a.m.,” when she went to his home in San Francisco. They ran errands together in her car, and at one point she saw the man drop an envelope addressed to “Troy R. McAlister.” On the date, the woman said “Ray” opened his backpack and brandished a firearm with an extended magazine. “He told her she never had to worry about anything with him, because he had the gun,” the report states. “He told her he carried it around ‘in case people became ignorant.’”
Around noon, the pair placed an order at Nation’s, and the woman agreed to get out of the car to pick up the food. At that point McAlister snatched her keys and, as he carjacked her 2017 Honda HR-V and sped away, he flipped her the bird.
The woman told police she wanted to press charges and gave officers McAlister’s address. Daly City police conducted a records check that showed McAlister was on parole for robbery and matched a mugshot of McAlister with a photo of “Ray.” Daly City Police said in a statement that they went to McAlister’s address but were unable to locate him. Officers also said they alerted parole officials that McAlister brandished a 9mm pistol with an extended magazine at a woman, (which he indicated he would use if “people became ignorant”) and committed grand theft of her vehicle.
Despite that notification, McAlister’s parole agent, Vasquez, assistant unit supervisor Rhoderick Reyes, and Unit 1 supervisor Porter failed to report, investigate, or initiate action and deemed it appropriate that McAlister “continue on parole.”
While he may be the most infamous, McAlister isn’t the only ex-convict in San Francisco allowed by parole agents to commit crimes without consequence.
“It’s a parole agent’s duty to protect the public, but that’s not what’s happening. If you assault someone, you go to anger management; sell or use drugs, go to substance abuse treatment; sex offenders who cut off ankle monitors or have location tracking near schools get a verbal reprimand with more psyche treatment,” said one former employee. “You have no idea how many truly dangerous people like McAlister are out there.”