Police investigating series of break-ins at Bellaire gym for kids with special needs

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Bellaire police are investigating after a series of break-ins at a gym for kids with special needs.

The owners are hoping surveillance video will help somebody recognize the man responsible for breaking into the We Rock the Spectrum Kids Gym near Bellaire Boulevard and Bissonnet.

The current owners took over the gym last month. Since then, they say the gym has been broken into twice and four times over the past year.

They believe it's the same man who's responsible.

Video from Jan. 29 shows a man walking up with a bicycle, getting in through the emergency door, and going to the cash box.

"We called a locksmith that day," said owner Joan Loyd. "I said, 'nobody needs to be coming in, take the doorknob off, let's just cover it with a plate.'"

But the thief was apparently ready. He appeared to have brought in some kind of crowbar.

On a video from Feb. 20, you can see he cleans out the cash box again, even grabbing drinks and snacks.

"I need customers, but not like this," laughed Loyd.

Loyd and her family bought the We Rock the Spectrum Kids Gym to build a community of safety.

Their now almost 5-year-old was born with an underdeveloped hand.

"It was really hard to go through that unexpectedly, so through that process, I connected with a lot of families that had been through similar experiences," she said. "It's something that we're really passionate about."

For Loyd, it's not about losing money. It's about the loss of safety. In fact, she said the thief only got away with a couple of hundred dollars during each break-in.

"Somebody that can break into a kids' gym that serves children with special needs as well, you just don't know what somebody like that would be capable of," she said.

For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook,X and Instagram.