A recent episode of popular public radio show This American Life recounts the story of a real-life "Spider-Man"—who wasn't the most responsible with his great power.
Instead, this "Spider-Man" was an incredibly agile San Francisco burglar, who entered more than 50 buildings through their attics and skylights in the space of a few months. Many of those buildings were in the Sunset.
In June 2002, Kristian Kwon Marine was discovered in the crawlspace of a market on the corner of Irving and 40th Avenue, after a neighbor called police. Once in custody, Marine, then 25, took police to the scenes of some of the 55 buildings he was eventually accused of breaking into.
At the time, investigators told the Chronicle that Marine used "power cords and garden hoses" as climbing equipment, and was able to "leap a 10-foot span."
Lou Braunfeld, a former SFPD burglary investigator, told This American Life that Marine broke in to businesses at night via lofts, skylights or attics, opened safes and cash registers, "and would raise himself back up, almost like right out of a James Bond movie." (Marine says he took his inspiration from Tom Cruise's famous scene in Mission: Impossible.)
After two months of staking out Sunset markets, police finally caught their man—but he wasn't the criminal mastermind they were expecting.
Marine, a regular churchgoer, had no prior criminal record, and kept his activities secret from all his friends and family. What drove him to become such a prolific second-story man? A gambling addiction.
"They had a hard time connecting the Spider-Man in their heads with the person in front of them," said This American Life producer Karen Duffin, who knew Marine from the church they both attended, and has been his friend for 15 years. At the time, she was similarly shocked to learn her friend had a secret life.
On the show, Duffin interviews Marine about his criminal career and his motivations, giving him the nom de criminalité of "Peter Parkour"—shortened to "Park," in honor of Marine's Korean heritage.
Marine takes Duffin past several unnamed Sunset businesses he hit, including a florist, burger restaurant, and a comic-book shop.
He had some near-misses before being caught. After burgling Hotei restaurant (now Hometown Creamery), Marine said he left via the front door, only to find a police officer outside; he pretended to be an employee locking up for the evening in order to get away. Another night, he hit Noriega Produce, taking a break from his crime to eat an ice cream bar—whose disappearance was part of the police report.
After two years in custody awaiting trial, Marine pleaded guilty to 63 counts of burglary, one of the largest charges of its type in the city's history. As a first-time offender, he received a sentence of six years, but after credit for time served, he was released with five years' probation.
But by July 2004, Marine was back in jail, arrested for strong-arm robbery after snatching a purse from a woman at a cafe near Ninth and Irving. SFPD mounted police Officer Kaan Chin chased Marine on horseback "across a playing field in Golden Gate Park," eventually arresting him at the Big Rec field near Ninth and Lincoln.
After searching Marine, police found property linking him to another street robbery the day before near 20th and Ocean, "where the suspect allegedly knocked a woman to the ground when she would not let go of her purse." Marine tells Duffin that he deeply regrets both incidents, which drove him to change his life.
Marine has since received treatment for his addiction, and hasn't gambled since 2004. He now lives comfortably in "a great neighborhood" in San Francisco, where he "makes good money and has a girlfriend."
You can listen to "Peter Parkour's" entire story right here.
