Houston News

Sunday, December 9, 2012

2 young brothers killed after being hit by car

ALVIN, TX (KTRK) -- A man and two children are dead after a late night accident in Brazoria County.

The two boys were with their father, pushing a disabled vehicle on County Road 144 near Alvin around 11:30pm when a vehicle ran into them.

The case took a strange turn for police when they discovered the man in car had been shot in the head.

As friends and family mourned Saturday, investigators swarmed the area, searching for answers -- anything to explain what happened.

"Nobody knows nothing but the people who were there, and two of them are gone," family friend Pete Villanueva III said.

According to the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office, the Barajas family was driving home when they ran out of gas.

Deputies said 12-year-old David and 11-year-old Caleb helped their father, David Sr., push their truck home.

"Another vehicle came up behind them -- and, of course, this was in the dark, early hours -- and struck the vehicle from behind, striking all three," BCSO Criminal Investigator Dominick Sanders said.

David Jr. died instantly and Caleb died at an area hospital.

Their mother and sister were in the disabled truck at the time. They were not hurt, officials said.

David Sr., was injured and rushed to the hospital. He was recovering Saturday night.

The accident happened just 50 yards away from the family's home.

Deputies arrived at the scene and found the car that hit the Barajas family smashed on the side of the road. Jose Banda, 20, was slumped over in the passenger seat with a gunshot wound to the head.

He later died at an area hospital.

There's no word at this point if that Banda was shot before or after the accident. Investigators found no weapons nearby and they haven't identified any suspects in Banda's death.

"We don't want to jump to any conclusions at this point until we've done a thorough investigation," Sanders said.

This case remains under investigation. Please stay with Eyewitness News and abc13.com for updates.

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Man to spend 8 years behind bars for fake Bieber tickets

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The man accused of duping Justin Bieber fans into buying fake tickets will spend eight years behind bars.

Charles Grusczynski reached a plea deal with prosecutors for selling fake tickets to at least five people via Craigslist.

Bieber visited Houston last month.

Prosecutors say Grusczynski's targets made the crime that much worse.

"They save their money -- their babysitting money, cutting-the-grass money -- to be able to afford tickets that are extremely expensive, and they look forward to these events for months, and to have their dreams, like the judge said, demolished and shattered by somebody who's just a career criminal," said Rob Fryer, an assistant district attorney in Montgomery County.

Grusczynski may have pulled the same scam in Dallas. He has similar convictions in Florida.

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UPS delivery driver robbed of packages at gunpoint

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- December is a hectic time for the UPS, delivering Christmas presents all over the country. And now, sadly they've become targets for Grinches armed with guns.

Authorities are searching for a gunman who held up a UPS delivery man and demanded packages. He may as well have been swiping people's presents from right under the Christmas tree. It happened Thursday morning in the Spring-Cypress area.

With the holiday season at hand, UPS drivers have their hands and brown trucks full, and UPS tells Eyewitness News that on Thursday morning an armed robber saw a target.

According to UPS, one of its delivery drivers was working in the Spring-Cypress area when he was approached by an armed gunman who robbed the delivery truck. UPS says the suspect was able to get away with the packages.

"He ought to be ashamed of himself because he has deprived someone else from receiving what they were supposed to receive," said resident Ruben Braziel.

Another neighbor hopes those stolen boxes were not meant for her address, and says she hopes the crime won't steal the joy out of someone's Christmas.

"Very, very sad that they would do that, and not have the consideration for the person that not only who bought them, but the person that is going to receive them," Patti said.

UPS says the driver was not hurt and returned to work shortly after the incident.

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Man walks out of Walmart with 47" TV

Police are looking for information about a man who walked out of a Pasadena Walmart with a 47" LG LED flat screen television.

PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- Police are hoping someone will recognize a man who walked out of a Pasadena Walmart with a big TV.

On November 28, at about 9:30pm, a man walked into the Walmart store located at 5200 Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena. He went to the electronics section and selected a 47" LG LED flat screen television. He placed it in the basket and police say he exited the front door without attempting to pay for the item.

Upon leaving the store, the man loaded the TV into a gray Chevrolet Impala with paper tags. According to police this vehicle was driven by a Hispanic female. The male suspect is described as a Hispanic male, approximately 6'2", with a skinny build and a goatee. He was wearing a gray button down shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information regarding the location of this suspect or other suspects in this case is asked to call the Pasadena Police Department at 713-477-1221 or call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). All Crime Stoppers callers will remain anonymous; and, if any Crime Stoppers information leads to an arrest or the filing of felony charges, the tipster will be eligible for up to a $5,000 cash reward.

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City alleges it was overcharged millions on office supplies from Office Depot

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The city of Houston says a store you've likely shopped at bilked the city out of millions of your tax dollars. An audit released late Friday afternoon accuses Office Depot of overcharging city taxpayers for more than 4 years.

In all, the city says it was overcharged more than $6 million and there's suspicion the overcharging was no accident.

This is the latest in a string of complaints against Office Depot. Cities across the country have alleged similar overcharging. Much of it first brought to light by a former Office Depot employee who's notified cities across the county of potential problems -- issues now confirmed by the city of Houston.

Who would think that a few cents here on paper, and a few cents there on pens or cartridges or tape, would somehow add up to millions and millions of dollars? City of Houston Controller Ronald Green does.

"This wasn't nickels and dimes on Office Depot's part?" we asked Green.

"Not at all," he replied. "We think an upwards of $6.5 million, on the high end."

According to the audit, thousands of supplies had no price on city invoices from Office Depot; other items had prices that changed without reason; and some items were delivered to the city without the proper discounts applied.

It was so frequent and so widespread that, Green says, there's no way it was an accident.

"It opened up the door really for a lot of fraud, if you will," Green said.

"That's a strong word," we said.

"And I think it is," Green said. "I think someone knew what was going on here."

"And they made a lot of money of the taxpayers of Houston?" we asked.

"They made a lot of money," he said.

Here is just one of the irregularities the city auditor found: The first time the city bought easel pads, it paid $7.50 under this Office Depot contract. Then the auditor says the price climbed to $31.49, then dropped down to $30.99, and then back again to $7.50, before climbing again to $30.99 toward the end of the contract. All the price change were without explanation, says the auditor, and while the city should've been getting the cheapest price available.

"The vendor should be successful and make money, and we're for that. But the whole thing should be clear, it should be up front and then it should be honored," city of Houston auditor Dave Schroeder said.

Houston is far from the only city alleging overcharging by Office Depot.

According to government audits available online and press reports nationwide, Dallas settled with the company for $1.7 million, Florida for $4.5 million; Phoenix says it was overcharged by $5.3 million, while San Francisco alleges $4.25 million. Add in some other smaller cities and the alleged nationwide overcharges easily top $16 million nationwide.

Now Houston wants cash, too.

"I think that there is some nefarious intent on the side of Office Depot. We've been shown that by the way they've responded to us and not being transparent in providing information," Green said.

In a written reply to the Houston audit, Office Depot denies the charges and challenges the way the audit was conducted. The company says:

"The City of Houston auditor's assertion that the City was entitled to certain additional discounts is simply wrong. The auditor's report rehashes old claims originally made by a disgruntled former employee, that are based on inaccurate legal interpretations of Office Depot's former contract that the City was not a party to and which contract expired at the end of 2010.

"These very claims were considered and expressly rejected by the Florida Attorney General's office back in 2010, after it conducted a two-year investigation into the same allegations. Office Depot cooperated with the City of Houston's auditor and appreciated the City's patronage of Office Depot on the contact."

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HPD: Missing man has Alzheimer's, dementia

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston police were searching for a missing 75-year-old man Saturday night.

Roy Flores is a Hispanic man with a medium complexion. He is 5 feet 8 inches, 160 pounds and has brown eyes and salt and pepper hair.

According to officials, Flores disappeared around 7am Saturday. He was last seen walking away from his home in the 4800 block of Lamonte Lane in northwest Houston.

Authorities said he was last seen wearing a black jacket, burnt orange shirt, blue jeans and beige shoes.

Flores has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, officials said.

No other details were released.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call HPD at 713-731-5223.

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Thief steals $2,000 from SPCA thrift store in Freeport

Volunteers were in the back of the store on Monday when a thief walked off with a bank bag containing more than $2,000

By Pooja LodhiaFREEPORT, TX (KTRK) -- It was a record month for a Brazoria County thrift store that supports the SPCA. But volunteers have nothing to show for their hard work after a thief made off with their profits.

Looking into their eyes, it's hard to believe anybody would want to hurt the cats and dogs looking for new loving homes.

"We live in such a caring community, that we expect the community to be a caring group of folks," said shelter executive director Jack Brown.

But one crook broke that trust on Monday. He allegedly broke into the SPCA thrift store and stole donations.

"He didn't just steal money from this store," said thrift store manager Harold Clem. "He stole all of our time and effort."

Harold says the store was closed and volunteers were in the back when somebody sneaked in through a back entrance and took a bank bag filled with $2,040 in cash. The money was the largest amount the thrift store has ever raised in a single weekend. The SPCA was already counting on using it to help fund its spay and neuter program.

"We can offer a low-cost spay and neuter procedure for as little as $20, and that's a $200 procedure," Brown explained.

The Freeport Police Department has identified a person of interest, but officers haven't been able to locate him.

"I'd like to tell him what a low-life sneaking thief he is, you know," Harold said. "I don't think he needs to breathe the same air that honest people do."

But Harold's wife, who also volunteers at the store, has a different take.

"I hope he needed the money more than the animals did," Billie Clem said. "Maybe he did."

The thrift store did not have any sort of security devices. They wanted to be able to give all the money raised to the animal shelter, but that may be changing, if they have to invest in theft-prevention devices.

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Sunday, December 9, 2012

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