Houston police charge BBQ food truck owner with credit card abuse
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Kat Nakhleh says she saves barbecue as a special treat for when guests are in town. But according to her bank's records, she was buying a lot more barbecue than usual.
"You would have to be killing a whole cow," Nakhleh told us back in November.
Last fall, Nakhleh said she and others in her neighborhood began noticing charges on their credit cards, all from No Sauce Brothers BBQ, which they say they'd never heard of.
Now, 33-year-old Dervante Austin, who is listed in court records as the food establishment's owner, has been charged with two counts of credit or debit card abuse.
Court documents said Nakhleh and two other people in her zip code were waiting on new cards in the mail and saw charges to No Sauce Brothers BBQ on their accounts that they say they didn't authorize.
SEE ALSO: Banks reject BBQ charges after residents' cards missing in mail
Nakhleh said she first noticed the charges when she received a text message from the bank saying her replacement debit card, which she hadn't received in the mail yet, had been used for thousands of dollars at the barbecue truck.
"It's just such a strange thing to have happened," she said.
About $3,000 in charges went through at the barbecue restaurant last August, according to Nakhleh's bank records.
Then last September, records show her bank flagged and rejected a $6,492.84 charge at the barbecue spot.
"Thousands of dollars of food. No one was eating. No one was buying any real food; they were just typing in numbers and going tap tap tap and trying to steal money," Nakhleh said.
Nakhleh still wonders where something went wrong with the delivery of her card.
"There is definitely a missing piece of - mail goes to the post office, mail does not go to my house and how are we getting that credit card out to these criminals," she said.
Nakhleh said it was a "brazen" crime and fears the barbecue charges would have continued had she and her neighbors not called police.
"Please don't do this. Sell barbecue. Get really good at cooking and sell barbecue," she said.
As of late Friday afternoon, Austin is not in custody, but there is a warrant for his arrest. A motion filed by the state says they believe Austin is a flight risk.
13 Investigates spoke with Austin after the charges were filed, and he denied the allegations.
We also reached out to USPS, but have not heard back.
Contact 13 Investigates
Have a tip? A problem to solve? Send a tip below. If you don't have a photo or document to include, just hit 'skip upload' and send the details. (On mobile? You can open our form by tapping here.)
