Plastic Key Crooks

Bizarre crime: Luxury River Oaks area apartments see car windows smashed but valuables left alone

A series of vehicle break-ins at a luxury apartment complex has residents baffled.

Victor Senties with the Houston Police Department confirms that five cars and trucks had their windows smashed Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning in the parking garage of The Westheimer, a swanky mid-rise at 2001 Westheimer just east of Shepherd.

Oddly, no personal items appear to be missing from any of the vehicles.

"I got up to go to work this morning and my passenger window had been broken out," Sylvia Benavidez tells KHOU Ch. 11. "My truck had been ransacked."

She had been staying with her daughter, who moved into the upscale building last month due to the area's safe and solid reputation.

"First thing I thought of was, ‘Oh, they took the computer.’ And I look in the back, and it’s still sitting there so I really don’t know what they were looking for."

According to KHOU, residents suspect the thieves were attempting to steal cars with a set of "plastic keys" . . . which would narrow the pool of suspects to children aged 1 to 3?

Oh, wait . . . Sorry, not those plastic keys.

One of the victims reported finding a set of plastic spare or valet keys that didn't belong to her car. Unfortunately, the failed attempt to steal the vehicle left those keys jammed in her car's ignition.

Watch the full KHOU report:

(File photo)

Photo by Tango McEffrie Flickr

(File photo)

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Willkommen zurück

German cultural exchange institute returns to Houston after 25 years

Sign for the Goethe Institute outside the new offices at POST Houston.

Photo courtesy of the Goethe Institute.

After 25 years, the Goethe Institute returns to Houston full-time.

After 25 years, the Goethe-Institut is reopening a permanent office in Houston to promote cultural exchanges between Texas and Germany.

“The USA remains Germany's most important partner outside the European Union,”emphasizes Johannes Ebert, Secretary-General of the Goethe-Institut. “With the opening of our Houston location, we are sending a clear signal about the importance of the transatlantic partnership. With 30 million inhabitants, a dynamic economy, anda diverse educational and cultural landscape, Texas is an ideal location for deepening cultural dialogue with the United States and providing new impetus.”

Goethe-Institut Houston will officially open at their new office at POST Houston (401 Franklin) on October 3, which is also the 35th anniversary of the reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, Johannes Ebert, will be in attendance for the grand opening at 5:15 pm. He will present two parts of the new national "Among Friends" program, which aims to spread German language, music, art, and literature. Authors Sonali Beher and Iven Yorick Fenker from the German Literature Institute in Leipzig will read, and German and Texan journalists will discuss “Cohesion and division in uncertain times."

Tickets for the event are free, but registration is encouraged by visiting goethe.de/Houston.

“With ‘Among Friends,’ we are engaging in dialogue with local people who have had little contact with modern Germany,” explains Johannes Ebert. “We are building long-term partnerships for sustainable cultural work across the United States, thereby contributing to the strengthening of transatlantic relations."

Technically, Goethe-Institut Houston will be a part of the Chicago branch, but will use the office to promote events across Texas, where many German immigrants founded towns. There was a permanent office in Houston until 2000, when Goethe-Institut shut down many locations across the U.S. due to budget cuts. However, Goethe-Institut continued to bring German programming to the city, mostly through pop-up events such as showing famous German films. These were often done in conjunction with local art institutions. Goethe-Institut Houston says if hopes to continue using the vast, symbiotic networks it has developed over the last quarter-century to present new programming, in addition to events at their offices.

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