Burglars hit dozens of cars at complex

HOUSTON It was a rude awakening for dozens of tenants at the Alexan on Main Street near Kirby. It's a high end apartment complex where rent is not cheap and there are plenty of amenities. But residents say they are missing one basic amenity -- a feeling of safety.

Shattered windows and scattered belongings greeted dozens of tenants, including Clarence Riley, who thought it was random.

"Come to find out that this was not just a random thing," he said. "This happened to about 43 other tenants that stayed here, which is ridiculous in my opinion, because these are very expensive apartments."

Residents say rent at the Alexan on Main Street starts at a grand a month. Many will be shelling out even more money as they try to replace lost wallets, iPods, and GPS systems. The scale of the crime even surprised veteran officers.

Captain Mark Fourgerousse with the Houston Police Department said, "This is one of the largest ones I've seen, the largest number of burgled motor vehicles in this area."

Captain Fourgerousse says officers are looking through surveillance video and other evidence to find the criminals, and they're beefing up police presence in the area.

He promised, "We're going to be having extra patrols out there in the complexes, driving through the parking garages, and we'll also have undercover vehicles out there."

But some residents we talked to say 43 cars in one parking garage shows a larger problem. They want apartment management to step up and hire private security guards.

"That's a lot and that's unacceptable," said resident Dorris Warford. "It's a very nice property. They do have cameras, but obviously they need to have rolling security coming through here."

A representative of the development company that owns the complex told Eyewitness News they are focused on taking care of their tenants and cannot comment on any ongoing security measures at the complex.

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