by JENNIFER BIUNDO
A crew of alleged criminals is in jail awaiting trial for a spree of armed robberies up and down the Interstate 35 corridor, including the November hold-up of a Buda business.
Buda Police Detective Brandon Hale said investigators from five law enforcement agencies in Travis, Hays and Bexar counties cracked the case by pooling resources and information.
“It was a lot of work by outside agencies,” Hale said. “Sharing information was what solved this case.”
Keith Taylor, 41, is being held in the Travis County jail on three aggravated robbery counts and two out-of-county felony holds, with a bond set at more than $1 million.
Two other suspects, Stephen Morrison, 27, and Julian Beltran, 24, await trial in the Bexar County Jail. Morrison faces two first degree felony counts of armed robbery and three out-of-county holds, with bail set at $280,000, while Beltran has been charged with two first degree felony counts of armed robbery and one count of prohibited possession of a firearm, on a $165,000 bond.
A female suspected of acting as the getaway driver, Laura Velasquez, 26, also is facing felony charges in connection with the robberies.
Investigators say that on Nov. 15 at about 9:15 p.m., Morrison and Taylor burst into the Gamestop retail store on the 1500 block of Buda’s Main Street, wearing ski masks and gloves and armed with guns.
According to witness reports, the men tied up a young couple in their 20s who had been shopping in the store, along with a young male employee.
While one of the men held the bound prisoners at gunpoint in a back room, the other suspect ordered the remaining employee to hand over cash and game systems amounting to about $2,000, investigators said. The suspects then bound the fourth victim and fled.
Buda police were left with little in the way of leads beyond grainy surveillance camera footage of the ski mask-clad gunmen. But in conversations with detectives from other departments, Buda investigators heard of similar crimes along the corridor.
“We didn’t really have much information to go on,” said Buda Police Chief Bo Kidd. “We did have sketchy video and our detective was working with detectives in Austin that had similar robberies. They knew they were working the same crew of people.
It turned out San Antonio had one as well that matched up. They were gaining a little bit of information from each one.”
Investigators say the big break came just a few days later, when two of the suspects tried to hold up a Planet K retail store in San Antonio on Nov. 19. A bystander flagged down a police officer eating in a restaurant in the same strip mall, Kidd said, and two of the suspects – Morrison and Beltran – were apprehended. Further investigation led to Taylor’s arrest.
Austin Police Detective Scott Askew said the crew is believed to be responsible for at least five armed robberies in the Austin area, including hold-ups at convenience stores, a Dollar General store, the Planet K store on Stassney Lane, and the Oct. 26 robbery of Onion Creek Liquors on Interstate 35 just north of the Hays County line.
“Robbery in and of itself is a unique crime,” Askew said. “It’s a very violent crime. I think everybody placed the proper amount of importance on this investigation.”
Kidd says he’s encouraged his detectives at the recently-formed Buda Police Department to build relationships and stay connected with other law enforcement agencies in the region.
“This case is a good example of that,” Kidd said. “If you do share information, you are going to find that you’re working the same crooks.”
