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Convicted felons accused of crime during outages
In this segment of Breaking Bond, two convicted felons free from jail on bond are accused of burglarizing businesses dealing with Beryl's aftermath. FOX 26's Randy Wallace has the latest on the story.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - In less than a 48-hour period, more than 30 defendants have been charged with breaking into a business in Harris County.
You're going to wonder why two of them were free from jail in the first place.
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On Wednesday, Houston police announced that four burglary suspects were arrested, accused of trying to take advantage of power outages caused by Beryl.
Here's two of them: 44-year-old Curtis Davis and 28-year-old Carlos Flores.
Davis has 10 felony convictions under his belt.
"In March 2024, he gets popped for three more charges, two felonies, and a misdemeanor, and he bonds out," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers.
Flores was free from jail on a personal recognizance bond thanks to 351st Criminal District Court Judge Nata Cornelio.
"He has five prior convictions," Kahan said. "Despite having prior felony convictions, he's on probation for assault of a pregnant woman."
According to court documents, Flores punched his pregnant partner three times in the face.
"He was a fugitive for over a year," Kahan pointed out.
Instead of revoking Flores' probation and putting him behind bars, Cornelio grants Flores a PR bond.
"A get out of jail free card, which makes zero sense," said Kahan.
Yessenia Ramirez is the manager at Ultra Wigs at 9401 Cullen. It's one of the businesses Davis Flores and three others are charged with burglarizing.
The store had no power at the time, and Ramirez says the burglars came twice.
"The first one happened around 2 a.m. and the second one happened after that," she said.
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Davis Flores and the others are also accused of breaking into a Wing Stop at 4400 Lockwood.
"Maybe if they weren't out on bond, this would have never happened," said Ramirez.
"If you're that low to break into a business during a hurricane, then you need to get the book slapped at you, and you need to get some serious time when you get convicted," Kahan said.