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: