The San Fransisco Spider-Man is one of the most notorious burglars in the city's history, having robbed over 50 buildings by scaling walls, leaping between buildings, breaking in through skylights and attics, and even robbing businesses while people were still inside. This iconic thief is also a Mormon.
In a powerful new video series created by My 180, Kristian Kwon Marine (aka the San Fransisco Spider-Man) recalls the moment he stood on the San Fransisco Bay Bridge contemplating suicide. Marine had become addicted to gambling and had no money and no idea where to turn. Instead of taking his life, Marine turned to another source to solve his problems—burglary.
After evading the police on numerous occasions, Marine was eventually caught in 2002 hiding in a crawlspace above a market by police. He was just 25 years old.
In the video, Marine shares, "I had been living in a prison for years before I ever went to jail made up of choices I had made I was ashamed of, secrecy, insecurity, self-doubt. There was something inside me that felt unlovable."
But while in jail, Marine discovered a deeper truth, coming to understand personally that a perfect God could love him perfectly. "It also helped me to understand through Their love that there was something redeemable inside me, that there was something worth fighting for, there was something worth changing for," Marine says. "We can always turn and face the Savior and there is a power there that is greater than any darkness, greater than any shame, greater than any lie, and greater than any pain that we can inflict on other people. The Savior wants us to change so much and to turn to Him and He will provide us power when we finally do."