Sophisticated thieves targeting AC units in Houston's Third Ward
HOUSTON - This appears to be a sophisticated ring of thieves.
They travel in a truck and can easily steal units from metal cages in the blink of an eye.
They also seem to be familiar with the Third Ward area.
"We provide private duty care given and private nursing here in the Houston area," said Danielle Riley, owner of Concierge Clinicians of Houston.
In the last 60 days, Danielle has had three central air conditioning units stolen from her office in Third Ward.
The first time it was in broad daylight.
"I think they took advantage of the confusion, a lot of construction workers coming in and out," Danielle said. "They walked away with it."
The second time Danielle decided to put the unit in a metal cage, but it wasn't enough.
"They came and they took the bolts out from the base of the cage, and they stole the unit again," she said.
Danielle did even more reinforcement for unit number 3.
"We had them bolt the inside of the unit to the concrete, then put the housing on it, and then put a reinforced cage with bigger screws on it as well," said Danielle.
But the thieves still carted it off.
"I teach kids how to play musical instruments," said Samuel Dinkins III, founder and owner of The Dinky Drum Company and the DDC School of Music.
His business is Danielle's back door neighbor.
"The thieves removed the gate from my neighbors property," Samuel said. "They had a truck on the property. They rolled over the chain link fence."
Samuel's metal cage and padlocks didn't stop the thieves from taking both of his units.
"They obviously knew what they were doing. Because if you don't remove the breaker, you can get electrocuted," he said.
Anyone with information should call Houston Police or Crime Stoppers.