Vandals caught on camera targeting renovated home damaged by Hurricane Harvey

PASADENA, Texas – A remodeling company believes a group of teens are responsible for vandalizing a home under construction in Pasadena.

The company’s owner said the suspects put holes in the walls, broke a back window, dumped paint all over the floors and used it to write profanity on the windows.

“You can see that they went and put their foot through the wall, and you even have a footprint here,” said Francisco Campos Jr.

His family owns First Choice Real Estate along with a remodeling company. They purchased the home on Vince Street after it flooded during Hurricane Harvey.

Campos said they’ve worked to remodel the four-bedroom house and hoped to have it done by the end of the month, but said they stopped repairs because of the constant damage.

“It’s very frustrating just because you put your time in, and you really want the property to look nice and you want the homeowners to be happy and enjoy the property. But it’s kind of like you’re wasting your time, they’re just constantly messing it up and making things more difficult,” Campos said.

He said on Dec. 10, he noticed the damages in the morning, contacted Pasadena Police and installed security cameras the next day. But he said the group of teens came back twice in the same week.

“The reason we knew it was them was because the first time I noticed the stuff was messed up, I decided to move the fridge to give a better angle on the camera, and you could hear them say, ‘Hey look, they moved the fridge,” Campos said.

In the surveillance video, one of the teens is seen looking at the camera and then seen moving it toward the wall.

“I don’t want kids going down that path, but you know it seems like they don’t care because they’ve already seen that cops have come, they’ve seen we’ve put cameras, and they still keep coming back and keep damaging the property after we’ve already done some repairs and it seems like they really do not care about the law or anything,” expressed Campos.

Another time a different teen is seen brandishing a knife from his pocket.

“This is obviously knife slashing on the wall and then they put their gang sign or whatever it is on the wall,” said Campos.

He’s convinced the suspects maybe high school students because one of the crimes happened before 7 a.m. and the local high school is down the street. Campos said the teens are seen running from that direction.

He estimates the damages will cost them around $2,000.

“At this point, we kind of stopped because we don’t know if we’re wasting our time and money and they just keep coming back and messing it up unless they get caught,” said Campos.

If you have any information and want to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers, 713-222-TIPS (8477) Or contact Pasadena Police directly at 713-477-1221.

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