Accused Chinese crime lord STAYS in jail after federal prosecutors in San Francisco WIN emergency appeal against bail decision
A suspected gang boss accused of using brazen violence and intimidation to run a crime empire from San Francisco’s Chinatown will stay in jail after federal prosecutors pursuing conspiracy charges today won an emergency appeal overturning a bail order.
A federal grand jury earlier indicted Cankun He, 31, with conspiracy to rob hundreds of Apple iPhones from a shipping firm in Oregon – in a heist that saw his enforcers impersonate FBI special agents before imprisoning the business owner and his staff at gunpoint.
Government attorneys say the Chinese national green card holder was the mastermind behind the operation and that he took delivery of the stolen devices in Yreka, CA shortly after the robbery.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer this morning reversed a decision to release He to a halfway house made by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim last Wednesday – at a hearing where He’s brother and mother agreed to act as sureties for his release.
“There is overwhelming proof that this person is highly dangerous,” said Breyer, addressing defense concerns that none of the government’s allegations about He’s past criminal conduct had ever reached court.
“In the context of reality, which every now and then has to kick in, the fact that there weren’t earlier prosecutions can come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with tongs or gang warfare in San Francisco.”
“Starting in 1967, in my experience as a district attorney, [I] saw cases where witnesses were thoroughly intimidated and refused to come forward to testify, so the fact there have not been prosecutions for this compendium of violations of the penal code comes as no surprise to this court.”
“The court is going to order him detained and the magistrate’s order is reversed,” he said.
Breyer’s decision was presaged by him spending nearly 10 minutes reciting the litany of other violent crimes in which government attorneys say he was heavily involved – a circumstance which seldom bodes well for a defendant appearing before the judge.
When law enforcement raided He’s home earlier this month they found three guns – one fixed by a magnet to the underside of a table – drugs including methamphetamine plus “stacks” of counterfeit currency.
He was tracked down to an illicit karaoke bar on Noriega Ave in San Francisco’s Sunset district, alleged to be owned by him and where prosecutors say women He trafficked from China work.
A judge was told that when police tried to arrest He, he fled into a ceiling crawlspace and stayed there for 15 minutes before officers coaxed him to come down.
In 2023, prosecutors say, He masterminded the gunpoint robbery of $370,000 cash from a victim in Daly City in which the robbers used a black SUV fitted with flashing lights similar to police lights.
In 2018 He is accused of opening fire on men on a street in San Francisco’s Silver Terrace district and also using a machete to stab a man in the hand as punishment for not paying him money.
Police say weapons are regularly found wherever He is located. A search of a spot associated with He in Chinatown location in 2018 turned up three handguns, ammunition, ecstasy, digital scale, ski masks, zip ties and rope.
At a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim last Wednesday, prosecutors laid out they believed He ought to be held in custody prior to trial.
“While the defendant may have some ties to the Bay Area, we believe he is a flight risk due to his conduct,” said assistant U.S. attorney Kenneth Chambers, observing that He’s hiding in a ceiling crawl space was hardly suggestive of someone anxious to answer charges in court.
“The government also believes that he is a great danger to the community.”
“I am very disturbed by these allegations but they are just allegations,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim after hearing the Government’s recital of their suspicions about He’s violence.
“I am, reluctantly, going to order Mr He be released on condition he goes to a halfway house,” she said.
“But I will say, the first violation, he’s going back to jail.”
Today Judge Breyer ordered that He return to court on September 10.
The case continues.
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