By Anita Miller
KYLE — If you want to keep it, don’t keep it in your vehicle
That was the bottom line of a warning issued by Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett Saturday morning in the wake of dozens of car burglaries and a handful of arrests that occurred in the city in September.
Charges filed against 2 juveniles and 2 adults included burglary, fraud, identity theft and credit/debit card abuse, the city said in a news release. Recovered were pieces of stolen mail and credit cards, checks, identifying information and Lone Star ID cards, along with various illegal substances and one firearm.
The first case occurred at 4:22 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2. Police were alerted by a caller who saw someone breaking into a vehicle on Cowboy Cove. The suspect fled when police arrived but he was caught in a backyard on Western Drive and later identified as a 16-year-old from Austin.
A search of the vehicle he was driving, which also turned out to be stolen, yielded evidence including 19 credit/debit cards and 35 documents with identifying information. The suspect, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was charged with 2nd degree felony possession of identifying information: evading arrest, unauthorized use of a vehicle, 19 counts of credit/debit card abuse and three counts of theft of a driver’s license.
He was taken to Hays County Juvenile Detention Center.
It is unknown when he was released, but he was arrested again on Monday, Sept. 14 along with another 16-year-old from Austin, after someone called Kyle police at 1:50 a.m. to report two teenagers checking car door handles on Paddington Drive.
A variety of illegal substances plus a Ruger handgun were found in their vehicle.
Both were taken to the juvenile detention center under charges including evading arrest, burglary, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a dangerous drug and possession of marijuana. One of them was also charged with illegal possession of the firearm.
On Saturday, Sept. 12, 44-year-old Bryan Drake of Dallas was found on a stolen motorcycle at a Kyle gas station in a case previously reported in the Hays Free Press/News Dispatch on Sept. 23. Drake was charged with a variety of offenses based on evidence found in a motel room, the key to which he had with him when he was arrested.
As previously reported, he was held on bonds totaling $72,000, and online records indicated on Saturday, Oct. 3 that he was still behind bars.
One Kyle resident was also arrested. Rhonda Alexander, 47, was taken into custody at 1:57 a.m. Sept. 12 at a Stripes store after an officer noticed fake temporary plates on an SUV. Alexander, the driver of the vehicle, gave police permission to search it where numerous credit cards and other IDs were discovered.
Her bond was set at $45,000 for charges including fraudulent use/possession of identifying information and credit card abuse. She was released from jail later the same day.
“If you see something, please say something,” Barnett said, noting that some of the arrests were due to sharp-sighted residents. “Because of that we have been able to arrest several individuals that were targeting the Kyle community,” he said.
He urged residents to remove valuables from vehicles, or at least hide them from view, as well as ensuring all doors are locked.
