HOUSTON – A restaurant group says it has now been hit by burglars twice in less than a week. Each of the heists involved hooded culprits caught on surveillance video.
"They're going to keep going and always repeat," said the Creek Group director of operations Rob Gilbert.
Surveillance video caught five people breaking into the the Cedar Creek Cafe on 20th Street around 4 a.m. Tuesday, walking away with an undisclosed amount of money.
"Five people came in, broke through out back door and messed with one of our ATMs," Gilbert said. "We got broken into once again -- twice within the past week."
The Creek Group owns and manages Cedar Creek, Onion Creek, Canyon Creek and Piggy's Kitchen & Bar in River Oaks.
Not even seven days before this incident, early Friday morning, two hooded men broke into Piggy's, destroying the surveillance system, breaking doors and taking cash and liquor. The two were seen on video leaving in a silver or gray SUV. Those suspects are still on the run.
Gilbert described the crime as an epidemic for all Houston restaurants.
"It's so rampant in the area," Gilbert said. "Always, it just gets kind of swept under the rug. Hopefully, maybe, we can get a task force out. All the restaurants get hit on a nightly basis and people seem to think it's an easy target."
At Cedar Creek, surveillance video shows the people shaking the ATM and then shaking another black box at the bar. The they run off back into a car and drive away.
Gilbert said all of the Creek's affiliate businesses have been hit at one point or another.
"It always seems to happen at 3 or 4 a.m.," Gilbert said.
Regular customers like Jack Bailey said they will keep coming back to support.
"The service is unbelievable the environment is great," Bailey said.
Gilbert hopes that the city of Houston and Houston police will do more to crack down on crime that Gilbert said, affects many restaurants in Houston.
