HOUSTON – A Houston-area barista is asking for the public’s help in identifying the man who stole her wallet from a breakroom while she was working at a coffee shop.
The incident happened on Thursday, April 17, at a Black Rock Coffee bar on Houston’s westside.
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A man entered the shop at around 5:59 p.m., just moments before the shop’s closing time of 6 p.m.
He attempted to sit at one of the tables, but one of the baristas informed him that the shop was closing in one minute and that he could not remain in the lobby. The man then asked if he could use the bathroom, and the employees obliged. However, the bathrooms were code-locked, and he didn’t ask for the code before he headed towards the back hallway.
The victim and her coworkers waited for a brief time, expecting him to come back around and ask for the code. A short time passed, and he didn’t come back, so the victim was sent to the back to give him the digits. However, by the time she reached the back hall, he was already heading out towards the lobby.
The employees opened the bathroom door for him, but he explained that his wife was at a shelter and that he intended to meet her there, and he left. The whole situation seemed bizarre to the employees.
After the strange interaction, the baristas closed up the shop like any other day. Around 30 minutes later, as the victim was about to head home, she was alerted to a credit card charge of almost $37 from a nearby Chevron gas station. The alert prompted her to verify the charge, but it wasn’t from her.
She attempted to deal with the fraudulent charge as she walked towards her car. She reached out and pulled on her door handle, but it didn’t automatically unlock, alerting her that her car keys were gone. She opened her bag, and to her horror, her keys and wallet were gone.
At 6:40 p.m., she was alerted to another completed charge of $110 from Conoco Philips, with an address linking to their headquarters off of the Katy Freeway. Less than five minutes later, another attempted charge of $90 at the same location. This time, she was able to prevent the charge from going through.
Just minutes after that, the thief completed two more charges at a nearby Chipotle restaurant, those charges totaling just under $12.
Then, he went to a nearby HEB and attempted to use the card, but that charge was rejected. This was the last attempted usage of the card.
A short time later, the surveillance footage from the coffee shop’s breakroom, which was near the restroom, captured the man sneaking in and grabbing the wallet from her purse. The theft took just seconds to complete.
Three days later, and the barista is trying to pick up the pieces and recover as much as her stolen sensitive information as she can.
Through the traumatic experience, though, she is still thinking of the man and his allegedly desperate situation.
“I really hope that he does actually have a wife at a shelter,” the barista told KPRC 2’s Michael Horton. “It would make me feel a lot better if that’s the reason he chose to steal. It still doesn’t make it okay, obviously. But he seems to have needed it more than I did.”
Her compassion is admirable, but she still would like to recover her stolen goods, as replacing sensitive documents can be a time consuming and expensive endeavor.
“I just want my stuff back in my possession, because not having it is making things really difficult. Did you know processing for a license is currently at 4-6 weeks? [It’s] crazy.”
Anyone with information on the identity of the man is asked to contact Houston Police Department at 713-884-3131.
