Ever wonder why we haven't heard about the month-long rash of robberies along 14th Street perpetrated by badge-waving, cleanly-dressed pseudocops who accost patrons of the string of cantinas and demand they hand over their wallets and then take their money?
Bar owners say the scam has been taking place for the last month or so and that at least one of the victims has found his wallet – sans cold hard cash – dumped in the windshield wiper cavity of a car. Others, who had no money when the "cops" ask for their wallets, had them returned.
The last "event" happened late Friday night or early Saturday at the Siete Mares Bar where two customers were called outside by the pseudocops and ordered to give up their wallets. One of the patrons had no money and was handed back his wallet and told to go back in. The other had just cashed his paycheck and had some $700 which the two smartly-dressed men took with them. It is unknown whether the luckless bar patron had found it or its contents yet.
When he went back in to the bar, he told the woman behind the bar what had happened and she called the police. When the police arrived, they told the people inside that the two men waving badges were not police officers and that put out an alert for the two perpetrators who were seen leaving in a dark pickup truck.A woman who frequents the strip's establishments said she was washing her van when she noticed a wallet stuck in the cavity between the windshield and the hood of her car. She opened it and found a driver's license, other identifications papers including a residency card and assorted business cards and family pictures of the owner.
"I had my husband call him up and he was happy to get them back," she said. "He said that two men in a truck had turned on flashing police lights behind him and when he got off they asked him for his wallet and went back to the truck. Then they left. He had about $300 when they took it."
The victim said that he was leaving Charlie's Bar, a popular establishment on the strip, when he was accosted by the fake cops.
Afterwards, the man said that when he tried to get his license replaced, he was asked for proof or residency and he couldn't produce it. Acquiring a replacement for a lost residency card is often a lengthy process, so the victim was glad he got it back without having to go through that headache.
"If that happened about a month ago, then that means that these people have been at it for quite a while," said a bar patron. "Why haven't the police put out a warning to the public that this type of crime is happening?"
An added advantage to the pseudocops is the fact that many times they target people who have been consuming alcoholic beverages and that makes them reluctant to report the robbery to the police, who may instead charge them with public intoxication.
After the latest incident, the report of the perpetrators' vehicle resulted in two people being stopped for driving a similar vehicle. Even though they didn't turn out to be the suspects, one was arrested for DWI and the other for public intoxication.
Are the patrons of 14th Street open game to these pseudocpos (if they really are pseudo)? Or is something else working here that the police don't want us to know about?
5 comments:
Psuedo cops sure
Stay home, keep your asses out of bars and spend quality time with your family!.....none of this will happen.
Once again EL RUN RUN scoops the Brownsville Herald. Of what use is the Herald ? I would say boycott it, but that is not a solution. Everyone should subscribe to it. Every town needs a local daily newspaper, no matter how bad they have degenerated. It's time for the owner's of the Herald to do something about this unproductive asset. FIRE SOMEONE.
The days of simply being a mouth piece of Juliet Garcia, Sergio Arguelles, el Mago Doctor Maren, and the other owners of this hacienda called Brownsville should end.
Why must we wait for the FBI to come to town to clean out the rat's nest at our court house ? The current federal indictments alone prove up the failure of the Brownsville Herald's investigative journalist's. When it takes the FBI to do the journalist's job, a community is in trouble.
Please owners of the Herald, FIRE SOMEONE, and end this mediocrity. Maybe then you will boost your miserable circulation problems, and lack of advertising revenue's.
And why hasn't the Herald picked up on this rash of robberies. Is the effort to revitalize so intense that city officials will deny to advise the public of this risk??? It is not the police department's responsiblity to notify the public, that rests with the city and if we had a "real" newspaper, we would expect some sort of journalistic coverage of these events.....even by the TV stations. But, nada from the media or the city. Still, this doesn't make me want to take my money downtown to any of the new "establishments".
Barely have legal status in the country and barely making ends meet.....maybe even depending on a few dollars of foodstamps or any one of the million government programs......but yet there they are at the 14th street bars....exposed to crime, drugs, prostitutes and STDs.....then they get home drunk, with no money and beat their wives....good grief! Stay home, spend your hard earned money and your time with your family!
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