Three arrests


Our officers worked 49 calls for service this past week and conducted 58 traffic stops. Warnings were issued on 11 of those while the remaining 47 got invitations to municipal court.
All our property crimes and arrests occurred on Monday, May 14 and they stemmed from 2 incidents. I guess the rest of the week everybody was too busy getting ready to watch the Royal Wedding so committing crime was the last thing on their mind.
Incident #1 occurred at the H.E.B. C-Store, Lt. Dear and I responded for a report of a shoplifter. The rather “crafty crook” had placed 4 pairs of sunglasses in a cup and filled it with his favorite soft drink. He paid for the drink and left the store. Fortunately someone noticed his actions and realized he was up to no good and called the cops. So his $60 worth of sunglasses resulted in a trip to jail on a felony theft (enhanced because of prior convictions) and his car being impounded. What drives me nuts is that he had over $100 bucks cash on him; it doesn’t make any sense to me.
Incident #2 occurred at the “old” Dollar General building between city hall and the H.E.B. Plus. City council had just finished up their monthly meeting. One of our council members was driving by and noticed a pickup truck leaving the rear of the building with a couple AC condensing units in the bed. He called me because he knew that the building belonged to my mom and I take care of it (since she currently lives in the metropolis of Powderly, TX about 400 miles away). He gave me the vehicle description and also noted that the truck didn’t have taillights. I too had just left the council meeting so I was able to have our officers intercept and stop the pickup. Sure enough they had taken two of the units and damaged a third one. Those two fellows both got arrested on felony theft charges. As for the city council member he doesn’t want recognition for his good deed. I guess he is like me and prefers to shy away from publicity, always avoiding cameras and preferring to work in the shadows.
Lt. Dear and I had the pleasure of accompanying Mayor Mark Bowen and Mayor Pro-Tem Jerry Stone to the Texas Emergency Management Conf. in San Antonio last week. We attended some great classes and met with lots of vendors at the EXPO. We were also able to get some face time with some of our TXDOT partners. Top if off with pizza from the food court at River Center Mall and what else could you want?