An alert area resident and diligent Central Patrol officers have taken in a quartet of Heights miscreants they say broke into four area homes on Tuesday.
Police say Nathaniel Dean Cook, Octavius Demone Harris, Eli Marquis Ortiz and Everardo Segura broke into and stole items from three homes on Oxford Street and another on Beverly, all within school/work hours. All have been charged with two felony counts of burglary of a habitation and a felony count apiece of engaging in organized criminal activity.
Police say they would case the homes by looking in mailboxes and noting when there were no cars in the driveway. They would then knock on the door, and if they got no answer, would gain entry by either crawling in through an unlocked window or kicking in the back door. In many of these types of cases, HPD spokesman John Cannon says, one or more serves as lookouts, another will drive the car and the other will do the actual breaking in.
Police are investigating the possibility that the crew could be responsible for as many as 30 similar burglaries in the area dating back to April.
Their downfall came when a witness saw them taking items from a home on Beverly Street; that person called cops, who were able to apprehend all of them without incident. Numerous items believed to be taken from the homes were allegedly found on their persons or in their homes.
"Another day another Dollar," Segura Facebooked on October 13. Three weeks before that, he had this to say: "We dont even count the money no more we jst blow it spend it all up we do even count the money we jst throw it." He celebrated this week's 18th birthday in the Harris County Jail. He was already on probation for a felony theft conviction he racked up this summer.
"H.O.E...Heights Ova Everythang! It aint no click just anotha moto!" enthused 17-year-old Ortiz on September 30, the same day he offered up this thug wisdom: "My true potnas just can't be found nomo! Das why my moto is fuck friends.. My only dawg is Benjamin Franklin! Huhhh already.."
Eighteen-year-old Cook, who either dropped out or was kicked out of both Waltrip and Reagan, calls himself "Big Cook Da Heights Hustla" and refers to himself as a "nigga" even though he's white. He's already been convicted of evading arrest in big boy court despite graduating from the juvie leagues in June.
All Rhodes scholars in the making...
Cannon says Central Patrol's officers went above and beyond in apprehending these suspects, but his hat is also off to the citizen who phoned in this week's incident.
"We really wouldn't have caught 'em this week if it hadn't been for that witness," he says. "People hear us say, 'You need to be our eyes and ears' all the time, and how that works was never more apparent than in this case."
If any of these mugshots prods your memory towards some suspicious incident, Cannon says to call HPD's burglary division at 713-308-0900.
He also advises that people buy alarm systems, or failing that get a dog or bolster security on your back door with a double-bolt. If a stay-at-home neighbor can help by bringing in your mail and/or newspapers, that would also be a deterrent, he says.
