HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The average number of theft reports received each day by the Houston Police Department more than quadrupled in the days following Hurricane Beryl.
A spokesman said the department received an average of 10 reports of business burglaries each day in June.
From the Monday when Beryl made landfall until the following Saturday, the department received 259 reports, or an average of 43 reports per day.
The day after the storm, Chanon Yong Sanguanchai said staff at Sala Thai Eatery came to work and found the place broken into around 6 a.m.
Sala opened two months ago in the 200 block of Westheimer in Montrose.
Sanguanchai said nearby businesses lost power due to the storm, but his restaurant did not, so their surveillance cameras captured what happened.
A man used a tool to break the glass at the entrance and entered with another man.
“They took the trash can right next to the bar, put all the alcohol in the trash can and took the trash can out,” Sanguanchai said.
He said they also stole a safe with a small amount of cash inside.
Bayou City Seafood was the victim of a theft less than five miles away on Friday morning.
Owner Dale Peters said he prepared his restaurant for the storm by refrigerating all food, taking care of staff and getting rid of expensive IT equipment.
“Your fear is that people will prey on any situation where the power is out,” Peters said.
The restaurant, which has been open for more than three decades, lost power Monday due to the storm.
Early Friday morning, Peters said he got a call that his restaurant had been burglarized. He went to the location in Richmond near the West Loop and found three doors had been broken in, totaling about $20,000 in damage.
“They filled two trash cans with booze and put them at the end of the strip mall, and I think the police busted that part up,” Peters said.
Peters said a passing officer saw a car with its lights on parked outside the dark business around 3 a.m. and got the license plate number. He believes that led the suspects to leave a trash can filled with liquor there.
Authorities later said an arrest had been made.
“What I’m talking about is accountability,” Peters said. “I’m accountable to my restaurant and my staff. I want to see that, as a city, we start holding criminals accountable for what they do. If there’s no accountability, why would you stop doing it?”
Because the power was out at Peters’ restaurant, his cameras couldn’t capture what was happening inside.
Despite similarities in the circumstances at Sala and Bayou City Seafood, authorities have not said the two are connected.
This law allows the district attorney’s office to increase penalties for certain crimes after a disaster if the crime is related to the disaster itself.
“I think this is a good time for us to come together and help each other. However, they are taking advantage of others and only benefiting themselves. So, I think this is a good policy for now,” Sanguanchai said.
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