HOUSTON—After his Sprint Store located Interstate 45 and Fuqua was burglarized early Tuesday morning, owner Dan Sheppard shared a unique message for the thieves.
“I want to put a sign on the stores saying ‘Dear morons, there’s nothing here, it’s locked up, please go someplace else because it’s just an aggravation,’” Sheppard said.
Sheppard is one of at least two local Sprint store owners who are so fed up with repeat burglaries that they now remove their entire inventory each night, even the display phones, and lock them up in large gun safe bolted to the floor. The thieves on Tuesday morning didn’t get away with any cell phones at that location or at the Shepherd and Westheimer location owned by Scott Aronstein. He takes similar precautions.
Sheppard said half of the 12 stores he owns have been burglarized in the last 45 days. Aronstein, who owns 32 stores in Texas and Louisiana, said three of his Houston stores have been hit in the last week.
“I think it’s despicable,” said Aronstein. “Everyone that works for me is affected by it. Everyone who works in the industry is affected by it.”
Just last Friday thieves smashed through the windows at a Sprint store Aronstein owns at Highway 290 and Hollister. And even when the thieves aren’t getting away with the valuable phones, the burglaries are still costing store owners thousands of dollars in replacement glass and repairs.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Aronstein. “We’re just asking for help. Anyone in the public that might know who is doing this please come forward. It would be very helpful to stop this.”
Tuesday morning thieves also smashed through the windows of a store owned by the Sprint Corporation. A spokesperson at Sprint headquarters in Kansas City would not say what was taken in the burglary at Westpark and Buffalo Speedway, but that Sprint is cooperating with local authorities in the investigation.
