A Larkin Street Quickly boba shop has been accused by the DA of trafficking stolen goods, but that allegation has been sitting in plain sight in their Yelp reviews, and draw your own conclusions on why the shop was “cash only.”

It’s only been a day since San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s bombshell announcement of the arrest and charging the owner of a Tenderloin Quickly with moving stolen goods in a burglary ring. (And it’s the husband of the individual franchise owner, Quoc Le, who is charged, not the larger franchise that has more than 60 locations.) But in the day since, the Chronicle reported that Yelp reviewers have been alleging that a fencing operation has been going on there for years.

This piqued SFist’s curiosity, so we scrolled through those reviews. We found some other highly unusual characteristics to this particular Quickly at 709 Larkin Street.

Notably, hmmm, this 2015 Yelp review says the place is “cash only?” Can’t imagine why that would be! This stands in complete contrast with other SF Quickly locations whose Yelp pages are quite clear that “Quickly accepts credit cards.”

We also see the “cash only claim in this 2017 Yelp review that asserts, “This was my first visit to a Quickly. Not sure if it's the case for all of them, but this one is CASH ONLY.” That same reviewer adds to “Ignore the possibly illegal business to the right of the store and make your way to the counter on the left.”

A 2018 review alleges “come if u lost ur phone. They buy stolen phones & jailbreak it,” accompanied with screenshots of texts from someone trying to recover a stolen phone.

Later that same year, another Yelper alleges “Wait this place is a Quickly's? I guess I was so distracted by the amount of Mac desktops, laptops, and iphones on the counter and floor I hadn't noticed!”

Also from 2018: A review that notes: “Not your typical Quickly's Boba joint. They share space with a super clustered electronic repair "shop" that is literally laid out on one side taking up half of the seating area.” That reviewer also adds, “Another thing, CASH ONLY FAM!”

It’s certainly a political win for Boudin’s office that their investigative work cracked this case, particularly at a time when stolen goods resale is out of control in San Francisco. But it may slightly undermine that investigative work that this information has been sitting in plain sight on Yelp for more than five years. A rep for Boudin's office told the Chronicle they were unaware of these Yelp claims.

Related: Quickly Boba Shop on Larkin Busted In DA's Office Sting, Was Allegedly Helping Front a Car Burglary Ring [SFist]

Image: Yessenia C. via Yelp

When the iconic Irving Street cafe closed in the Inner Sunset late last year, some mourned and others shrugged — but it's unlikely anyone thought that a massive international chain would sneak into the space and operate illegally. But that's what's gone down!

The Irving Street Cafe had been in its digs at 716 Irving Street for quite some time — long enough that it was known as the place that local notable Chris Isaak went before he was famous, during the height of his popularity, and again after his star has leveled off. After 26 years in business, it closed this January, about two months after the property's owner filed this Zoning Referral For Health Permit (I uploaded it so you could see for yourself) saying that the new permit was in reference to a continuation of an existing business that was changing ownership, one that is not a formula retail chain.

Though no additional documents appear to have been filed with the city, Hoodline reports that a Quickly bubble tea joint has "soft opened" in the space, which would come as a surprise of anyone familiar with San Francisco's rigorous application requirements for any formula retail chain wishing to open additional outlets in San Francisco.

As Hoodline ably notes, "In 2004, city regulations began limiting chain businesses by classifying them under conditional use permits that are approved on a case-by-case basis by the city planning department," a process that includes notification of neighboring businesses and a series of hearings. Until that business is approved, it cannot open.

Quickly certainly falls under the heading of formula retail, with over 70 locations in Northern California alone.

According to a source who spoke to Hoodline, "I heard a rumor that they were improperly permitted and were basically just operating with the old Irving St. Cafe permits," a rumor that certainly seems supported by the Zoning Referral For Health Permit I showed you above.

A search I did for Planning Department documents did not demonstrate that the business filed for a new conditional use permit — but it did turn up a complaint filed May 1 on the grounds that the location was "Formula Retail" and "Formula Retail opened without permits or CU."

Based on the Planning Department's website, Planning Department code enforcer Matthew Dito made his initial review yesterday, and a "Notice of Enforcement" is scheduled to be issued on 6/3.

Gina Simi, Communications Manager for the Planning department, tells SFist that the area in the Inner Sunset where the new Quickly sits is zoned for formula retail, but that any chain stores that want to open up there "must still go through the process of obtaining a conditional use. And they have not done that. So that is what we are noticing them on."

We're moving on this as quickly as we can," Simi says.

Old timers will likely get a kick out of this tale of lawless bubble tea drama, as this is not the first time a Quickly has opened in SF sans permit. Back in 2007, then District 4 Supervisor Ed Jew was accused of shaking the owners of some local Quickly branches down to help them duck these same formula retail laws. Jew ended up in jail after demanding bribes, which is why we call him "Tapioca Ed." (In fact, after reading this report my SFist co-founder Rita Hao reminded me that she and I visited one of Tapioca Ed's illegal Quicklys back in 2007. Good times!)

Of course, this stretch of Irving is District 5, the territory of London Breed, who did not respond to our request for comment at publication time. But be sure, if she or anyone else calls me back, we'll update this story.

Poor Ed Jew! Not only is he doomed to spend the rest of his life with "disgraced" and "former" in front of his name, but he's in terrible danger of losing his crown as SF's most embarrassingly corrupt politician of this millennium. How quaint Jew's residency lies slash bubble tea corruption thing seems now that we have suspended Senator Leland Yee, his buddy Shrimp Boy and a 137 page criminal complaint to kick around. And to add insult to injury, this Friday Jew s expected to head back to jail.

Which, is anyone else a little surprised by this? Surely some of you wondered, at the news that the Ghee Kung Tong Supreme Lodge (just steps from Jew's family flower shop/shower) was raided, if there was some sort of connection between Jew's desire to get out of his final sentence and the busts. Or maybe I just watch too many TV shows in which the convict offers information to get out of jail time. Perhaps that, like film and television depictions of bloggers as angry slob rejects, is total fiction.

Because if a deal was struck, everyone involved is doing a great job of hiding it. Assistant District Attorney Alex Bastian has told the Ex that, despite the Jew team's best efforts, the disgraced former (see what we did there?) Supervisor is expected to turn himself in to the SF Sheriff's Department on Friday to serve his one-year sentence for lying and saying he lived in San Francisco, when he did not.

Assuming this all goes through as planned, I guess this is goodbye for now, Ed. See you next year!

[Ex]

Though disgraced former San Francisco supervisor Ed Jew is home from federal prison (where he reportedly taught yoga; the fun with this guy never ends), he's supposed to head back to county jail. But he doesn't want to! His fight in court to duck that portion of his sentence has us saying—you guessed it—Oh no, Ed Jew!

You know Jew's tragic tale, and if you don't, SFist's got seven pages of reports for catching up. But here's the short version: Ed Jew was elected as District 4 Supervisor in 2006. In May 2007, his City Hall office, his Chinatown flower shop, his house in the Sunset, and a house in Burlingame where his family lives were all raided by the FBI, because he was shaking down the proprietor of a few branches of Quickly, that bubble tea chain. I think that's when we started calling him "Tapioca Ed"?

Oh, and also? Jew didn't actually live in SF.

Along the way there were allegations of arson, crazy notes taped up on walls, a loony rally in his support, jury duty, and we could go on and on and on and on.

In April 2009, Jew was sentenced in federal court to over five years for fraud and extortion, and got an additional one year sentence in state court "for lying on election documents about residing in San Francisco."

Now, here we are, nearly five years later. According to Jew's attorney, Stuart Hanlon, who spoke with ABC7, Jew served four and a half years, much of it in a minimum security prison in Arizona, where he reportedly was "a model inmate who taught yoga in English."

"His job was, he was driver to other people, other inmates, so he had a car and keys and he drove off the prison grounds. He had total freedom," Hanlon told ABC7. That's right, "total freedom." OK!

Hanlon tells the Ex that last August, Jew was briefly transferred to a Sixth Street halfway house, but was only there for four days before "media attention" (apparently, ABC7 did a broadcast segment that is not available online) meant Jew had to be shipped to what Hanlon describes as "a maximum security lockup jail" to complete his federal sentence.

It's that last bit that has Hanlon arguing that Jew needn't serve his state sentence for the whole lying about where he lives thing, because "since Jew was not allowed to serve time in the halfway house, he should get credit for time served for his County Jail sentence."

District Attorney George Gascon seems less that impressed by this assertion, telling ABC7 that Jew needs to put in that last year, as "there's some accountability to this community that still hasn't necessarily taken place."

The Ex isn't having it, either! In an editorial published today, they say that "what needs to be ensured is that Jew serves all of the time he should for the crimes he committed."

Meanwhile, Jew remains at his Burlingame home with his wife and daughter, hoping, Hanlon says, to return to work at the family flower shop.

Oh no, Ed Jew! The same flower shop at which he was working before he went down the river? The same (showerless) flower shop where he claimed he showered, back when he was still saying he lived in SF? It sure looks that way.

[Ex]
[ABC7]

"Former San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew sentenced to five and a half years in prison for fraud & extortion," says CBS 5.

The disgraced former supe, as most of you know by now, tried extorting Chinese immigrant owners of Sunset District Quickly for $84,000, Not so effectively preying upon the same people he promised to support during his campaign.

During her ruling, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said, "I don't think this was a lapse in judgment or a poor decision. This was a corrupt act." The five-plus year sentence was more than the four years and nine months that prosecutors recommended. Ouch.

More jail time could be tacked on to today's sentence as Jew will soon face the state court for felony perjury. If you recall, he also fibbed about where he lived. (Because Burlingame? Isn't even in San Francisco, Ed.)

Hey, remember how Ed Jew tried to strong-arm Quickly stores into giving him $80,000 for permits? Permits "required of franchise operations in the City?" Well, Sarah Phelan at SFBG reports that today -- well after a court day has been set for the disgraced former supervisor, who is at a safe distance arranging tasteful bouquets at his family's flower shop -- Quickly stores STILL don't have their required permits, and no one, it seems, is doing a thing about it.

But that's not that fun part. It's this: Stuart Hanlon, Jew's lawyer, tries to toss blame at Supe Board Prez Aaron Peskin for the continuing lack of permitlessness with Quickly stores in the City. Hanlon tells Phelan that "[t]hey have one in [board president Aaron] ... Peskin's district that Peskin has done zero about."

Oops. Then, SFist's favorite bear/City Hall employee responded thusly. Ahem:

Stuart Hanlon can go fuck himself. The guy shouldn't be using my name as he does, and if he and his client had any idea how law worked, Ed would not be in a deep pile of trouble. The Planning Department is fully aware of all the violations of Quicklys throughout San Francisco, including my district. The fact that the Planning Department is not doing their job with speed and alacrity has nothing to do with us lawmakers.

He said the f-word. Tee hee.

Anyway, read more about how this chain is allowed to thrive sans permit. (Sonic and Wendy's? We wait patiently for your spores to drop.)

On February 19, Ed Jew's current attorney, Stuart Hanlon, will, ahem, "ask a judge to throw out the federal criminal case against the ex-San Francisco supervisor." You know, his case of bribery, mail fraud, and extortion? Yes, that one.

Eat it, lick it, snort it, fuck it, Ed. You are San Francisco's very own Britney. We don't get you, but we're fascinated by your thought process, or lack thereof.

It is done.

According to the Chronicle, a "federal grand jury indicted suspended San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew today on charges of soliciting $80,000 in bribes from local businesses by threatening their city permits."

Jew was indicted on charges mail fraud, bribery, and extortion (i.e., his plan to bribe Quickly owners with licensing problems.) Other bits of downfall glory include such antics as accepting $4,000 (in cash!) from the owners of Wonderful Desserts and Cafe, and...well, you know how the story goes.

Charlene Thornton, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office, goes on to tell the Chronicle, "[w]hen public servants betray the people's trust for the sake of personal gain, they deeply wound the democratic principles upon which this society is founded." Alas.

As of now his lawyers are mute with regards to any public statement. Disgraced supervisor Ed Jew will be arraigned on the indictment tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

Read more about it here, here, and here.