HOUSTON – One east Houston restaurant has been broken into half a dozen times and has had tens of thousands of dollars taken. The restaurant owners are asking for help in catching the thieves, who were caught stealing on surveillance video.
Since 2015, the Blue Bayou Cafe has its fair share of break-ins.
“The first time they took $11,000 dollars,” restaurant manager Horacio Aguirre said. “The second time they took $6,000."
Then the restaurant was hit another five times, Aguirre said. Several times, the workers and some patrons were held at gunpoint. Each time, Aguirre said he or the restaurant owners called Houston Police Department.
However, each time they had to wait, he said.
"It takes about two to three hours," Aguirre said.
For the staff, the fear is real.
"The middle of the night when we walk outside, we never know if we're going to make it home," Aguirre said.
The last time the restaurant was broken into was last Friday. Surveillance video from the restaurant shows a car circling around and then four men breaking in.
In the video taken on Feb. 7 around 7 a.m., a thief appears to go for the cash register, prying it open but found nothing. Another thief made his way to the office and beat the safe. Unable to get it open, the thief is shown dragging the safe out.
"They couldn't break it there so they go ahead and drag it all the way through across my kitchen," Aguirre said.
Ultimately, the four thieves took $1,600 Friday. However, the restaurant has lost tens of thousands of dollars in cash and tools over the course of the six break-ins.
Aguirre said the Blue Bayou Cafe staff is proactive about locking up, making sure the cameras are on and ensuring the staff is hope.
However, he fears their calls for help are not being heard.
“We’re trying to grow as much as we can, and it is hard,” Aguirre said.
Anyone with information related to these robberies is asked to call the Houston Police Department.