Food bank truck vandal sentenced
A man who vandalized property in San Rafael and Novato with corrosive chemicals — including five delivery trucks used by the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank — received a one-year jail sentence Wednesday.
Shahin Farman, 39, was also placed on probation for two years. The Marin County Probation Department is not optimistic about his prospects for rehabilitation.
“Although the Probation Department will attempt to work with Farman, he typically does not cooperate with treatment or any effort in trying to improve his personal circumstances,” a probation officer wrote in a sentencing report. “He is content being homeless, living out of his car and driving to nearby cities disrupting the community and at times exhibiting
hostile behavior towards unsuspecting persons.
“Ultimately, if Farman becomes further behaviorally unstable and commits more acts of aggression or vandalism the Probation Department will be seeking a maximum term prison sentence.”
The crimes happened last summer. On Aug. 2, a man was recorded on surveillance footage pouring acid into the gas tanks of the food bank trucks at its center on Kerner Boulevard in San Rafael. The footage included the vandal’s minivan, and investigators
identified the suspect as Farman.
About a week later, a public works employee saw Farman pouring acid on city street signs and a Bank of the West sign in downtown Novato. When the employee told him to stop, Farman flashed his middle finger and tossed the acid jug on the roof of the bank, according to the probation report. Novato police found him nearby.
“Farman was arrested and his vehicle was searched prior to being towed,” the probation report said. “Inside the minivan were several more gallon bottles of muriatic acid, other chemicals for stripping or removing paint or other sign making
materials, weed killer, and two large bottles of wasp and hornet spray.”
The district attorney’s office filed four counts against Farman and he accepted a plea deal for two convictions. By the time of his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, he had already been released with credit for time served.
The probation report called the vandalism of the food bank vehicles “completely outrageous and shameful.”
“One of the most important service organizations in the community providing for those in need had to experience challenging circumstances and likely a disruption of their deliveries due to Farman’s purely idiotic
behavior,” the probation officer wrote. “While it is understood he is challenged with mental and behavioral illness these acts he committed in August 2020 are senseless and malicious. In the months leading up to the crimes Farman was contacted numerous times by different police agencies for erratic and disturbing behavior.”
The food bank’s insurer paid the nonprofit nearly $51,000 for the damage.
Farman’s public defender, Karthik Raju, declined to comment Wednesday.
Farman’s criminal history includes convictions for false imprisonment, battery, intoxicated driving and soliciting lewd acts.