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(KRON) – A man was arrested in San Francisco for scamming two people in a blessing scheme and possessing child pornography, the San Francisco Police Department said on Wednesday.
On Jan. 23, 2024, at 11:30 a.m., a woman was waiting for her bus in the Excelsior District when a man approached her. During their conversation, two women joined the man and started convincing the victim to perform a blessing ceremony on her belongings, to which the victim agreed.
After the victim gathered her valuable items and a ceremony was conducted, the victim later discovered her valuables were gone.
Two days after the scam, at approximately 4 p.m., another blessing scam occurred.
This time, police said a man and a woman approached a victim when she was alone in the outer Mission District, where they continued their conversation in an alley. While they were in the alley, another woman joined the two suspects, and the three convinced the victim to gather her valuables to be blessed.
According to police, the victim gathered US currency and jewelry, which the scammers blessed in a ceremony with her belongings. After the ceremony, the victim later discovered her valuables were switched with “similarly weighted items,” police said.
Through an investigation conducted by SFPD’s Special Victims Unit (SVU), police were able to locate the vehicle used in the crimes and identify the scammers. On Feb. 26, 2024, SVU investigators located the suspect, a 68-year-old man, Chen Kun Lo, and arrested him without incident.
During the arrest, investigators found Lo in possession of items believed to be stolen from the blessing scam victims, as well as possession of child pornography.
Lo was booked for felony charges of possession of stolen property and possession of child pornography on Wednesday. Investigators have identified the other two suspects, but both still remain at large.
While an arrest has been made, these investigations remain open and active. Anyone with information is asked to call the SFPD Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444.
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