A West Harris County homeowner says he was victimized by a petty thief who apparently committed the crime while driving a work vehicle with a visible company logo.
Eric Turpeau said he had just taken a break from yard work Sunday and was inside his home when the theft occurred.
Home security camera video shows a man driving a pick-up truck with and stop along Boca Chica Lane. He gets out of the truck, looks around, then heads for Turpeau’s open garage.
“It was shocking to see somebody do that. He walked in here like it was regular business and he left like it was regular business with something in his hand he didn’t come in with,” Turpeau told KPRC 2 News.
The surveillance footage shows the man with a small black bag in his hand. Turpeau says it was a camera bag that contained an old VHS Camcorder.
“The camera holds very little value monetarily, but we used that to record our twin sons playing basketball when they were much younger and other family events. So it has sentimental value. Why would a guy steal that?” Turpeau said.
When he zoomed in and took still images from the videos, Turpeau saw the man was driving a truck with the logo of his local water utility, Inframark.
“I assumed that the truck was stolen from the company because I didn’t believe somebody would have the gall to actually pull up in a company truck in front of all these video cameras and walk in and commit a home burglary,” he said.
KPRC2 contacted inframark about the theft and the company confirmed he is an employee, though he was not on duty Sunday.
Monday, in a statement to KPRC2, Todd Burrer, Inframark’s Vice President of MUDs (municipal utility districts) wrote:
“We were made aware of these allegations this afternoon and we take them extremely seriously. We have already been in contact with the authorities to gather all the facts and get to the bottom of this situation. The employee in question has been placed on leave pending the results of the investigation. To be clear the trust of our customers is our highest priority and we have a zero tolerance policy for any actions that compromise that.”
Tuesday, Burrer told KPRC2 when the company notified the employee of the complaint and asked him to come in to discuss the situation, the man skipped the meeting. Burrer says they saw the man drop off the work truck and other work materials and then leave.
Inframark says they are fully cooperating with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on this investigation.