Thieves target one Houston business for third time

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Burglars have spoiled the holiday season for a local business owner. For the third time in the last few months, he says thieves hit his Houston office and now he's struggling to keep the lights on.

"Not the holidays I expected at all," said Alex De La Garza, looking at the shattered window thieves used to steal from his business, Houston Trade Training. They took thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

"They've stolen all of my HVAC equipment, recovery machines, vacuum pumps, hoses, computers," he explained "HVAC equipment is very expensive you know."

We've told you in the past about copper thieves targeting churches for their air conditioners, hitting power substations, and even a football stadium. But this time they struck a business teaching people skills to earn their own money. What's worse is this is the third time they've been hit.

We got broken into three times," said De La Garza, "and they wiped us out three times."

After the first burglary they installed security and a camera.

They haven't helped and neither did the complex camera outside. De La Garza and his partners are still struggling to repair the damage, replace what was lost previously, and have fallen behind on rent, afraid their landlord will lock them out before New Year's Eve.

The property manager, a large landowner with several locations, didn't reply to our multiple requests for information and so De La Garza is left hoping that 2015 is better than 2014--.

"We're thinking about putting burglar bars," he added. "But we don't have the money to do that yet. We kind of playing catch up from all of the times we got broken into."

The Houston Police Department tells us there are no burglary trends in that part of town, and they couldn't talk specifically about these burglaries. But they suggest any business owner tag their property so that if it is stolen it's easily identifiable if found.

We have yet to hear back from Houston Trade Training's landlord.