Heights pizza restuarant burglarized week before Christmas; owner says it’s becoming a holiday tradition

HOUSTON — Through a shattered glass door, would-be thieves made their way into the CRUST Pizza location off N Shepherd Dr. in the Heights. 

“It was Wednesday morning at 5 a.m.,” said CRUST Owner, John Reno. 

Equipped with multiple crowbars, surveillance video showed the suspects going from register to register, eventually hitting the back office. They came up empty-handed but caused thousands of dollars in damages.

“They had a concrete saw and their intention was to find a safe in the office, which most of the time those safes are bolted down to the floor,” said Reno. 

While they never leave cash in the facility overnight, Reno mentioned an unfortunate mistake that gave the suspects more time to ransack the place. 

“We have an alarm system and it’s on every night and for whatever reason, bad luck or what have you there, was a mix-up with one of the employees and they did not set the alarm,” Reno explained. 

It’s not the first time his business has been hit.

“It seems to be prevalent this time of year, especially the week before Christmas,” Reno said. “This ring of burglars, they use the same mode of operation. They break the glass, they go in and only take cash.

He went on to say, “I have video surveillance of the first break-in at our previous business and it looks like the same crew.”

Reno said he saw on social media that multiple other businesses along N Shepherd Drive were hit all in the same night. It’s something he said is becoming all too common in his neck of the woods. 

“A lot of the businesses up and down Shepherd are already suffering the major street construction, so when things like this happen it hurts even that much more so you know we just appreciate any community support that we can get,” Reno said.

If you have any information that could lead to an arrest of the burglaries, you’re asked to call Houston police. 

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