Mark W. Stephens Featured on KHOU-TV Defenders
Mark W. Stephens Featured on KHOU-TV Defenders
Click here to View Video of KHOU-TV Defenders Report
(from www.markwstephens site)
Click to watch video
(from KHOU)(NOTE::: You will need to logon to KHOU then click view video)
They might be cruising through your subdivision tonight, thieves who come out
after the sun goes down hoping you won't see them. They're bold, they're
brazen and they've been getting away with virtual raids through Houston
subdivisions. That is -- until now.
They've been caught on tape taking whatever they can get away with.
KHOU-TV
Thieves sneak in, usually at night, and take not just appliances, but lumber,
or windows, they even take doors right off their hinges.
Just ask the G****** family. Their dream home was far from the city and from
crime, or so they thought. But when they first moved in. "I walked in to about
right here," said Steve G******. "And I realized the dishwasher was missing."
And the stove, the oven and the microwave all had disappeared.
It hit them hard. "It did," said Grychka. "I mean I was just in disbelief.
This does not just happen."
But ask any Houston builder what are these people stealing? "Anything from,
you name it, that's got a value they'll take it," said Mike Best with Newmark
Homes.
In fact, millions of dollars in materials are disappearing from subdivisions
under construction all over Houston. Thieves sneak in, usually at night, and
take not just appliances, but lumber, or windows, they even take doors right
off their hinges. And why? Because it can mean big money where even a pile of
lumber can be worth thousands of dollars.
But right on their tail is private investigator Mark Stephens. Night
after night he's out looking for these home construction crooks. "Y'know, a
crook is a crook," he said. "And if I can catch em, I'll catch em."
Catching them on tape one night in December. "They've backed their van up to a
pile of lumber," said Stephens.
And they're stuffing it into their van, lumber that belongs to the
homebuilder. "And they cut the bands and they're just loading it," he said.
Soon after they make their escape.
But that isn't all, the next night Stephens catches the men in a van
already on the run with stolen materials as they make a wrong turn.
You can hear on the home video he taped, "They're bailing out, they're bailing
out."
The thieves run right into the woods, but this time they have to leave the
loot behind. What is it? Lumber.
And then there's the just plain bizarre as on a rainy February night, when
Stephens sees something. "To be honest I didn't know what it was at
first," he said.
That something, hanging out of the back of an SUV believe it or not was a
tree. "It was a 30-gallon oak tree," said Stephens. "It was a tree he
dug the tree out of the ground."
Sure enough, when two officers stop the car to take a look, there's the tree
complete with bricks and materials for easy planting. The man told police he
had permission to take it.
But did he have permission? "No," said Stephens.
"The unfortunate thing of it all, the dollars that add up, unfortunately it
has to get passed on to the consumer," said Best. "And that's where everybody
gets hit."
And now, the thieves are hitting harder.
February 20, just past 1:00 in the morning, at a subdivision near Sam Houston
Racetrack is a familiar scene, a home under construction. But the two men want
much more than plywood. They survey the scene, disappear for a few minutes and
come back, with what? An air conditioner. But they're not stopping at one,
they go back for a second, then they load them into the van and they're gone.
It seems awfully bold. "It is, it's very bold," said Stephens. "These
guys, they don't care. They'll steal anything."
So what about those guys caught on tape?
The 11 News Defenders tracked down one man. Police said he was one of the guys
making off with the air conditioners.
But he said he didn't take anything.
And a woman told the Defenders, "He doesn't have nothing to say ok, we live
here."
Is he in the air conditioning business? The woman answered, "He works there."
Where does he work? Who does he work for? Is there some misunderstanding, can
she clear it up?
Investigators say that man has been charged with theft. Several other people
have been charged as a result of Stephens' work on other cases.
Also online
Have a question, information or story idea? Contact the Defenders
877-367-5468
877-FOR-KHOU