He believes the same person broke into his shop, leaving behind costly damage, while cleaning out the cash register.
TOMBALL, Texas — A Houston-area nail salon owner is warning other businesses after he says his salons were burglarized twice in two weeks — and he believes the same suspect may be tied to other break-ins across the area.
An Le, owner of La Dolce Nail Spa, said his Spring location was burglarized early Wednesday morning. He said someone broke through a storefront window, went inside and targeted the cash register.
Le said the suspect got away with a few hundred dollars, but the damage left behind was far more costly.
KHOU 11 obtained exclusive surveillance video appearing to show a hooded suspect breaking through the salon’s storefront glass before entering the business.
“I saw glass here, outside and inside,” Le said.
Le said his Humble location was also burglarized about two weeks earlier. KHOU 11 also obtained surveillance video from Milano Nail Spa showing separate reported break-ins involving its Tomball and Humble locations.
Le believes the cases may be connected.
“It’s definitely 100% to me,” Le said. “Same hoodie. Sometimes I see the same shoes.”
Le said the suspect seen in the videos appears to be wearing a black jacket with the hood up, bright yellow shoes and carrying what appears to be a small hammer.
“Same hand. You know, we do hand (nails) for a living, so we can pay attention. Detail to the hand and the same hand. Yeah,” Le said.
At first, Le said he thought someone might have been targeting him personally. But after seeing other similar break-ins, he said he felt he needed to speak out.
“Then later on I see a lot of business got break into with same person then I said no, it’s got to be stopped,” Le said.
Le said what’s being stolen is relatively small — mostly cash left in registers for change — compared to the cost of repairs and cleanup.
“But the problem is the break in and the glass and the clean-up. And then we had to order the special glass does not in this, you know, it’s not easy to get,” Le said.
He said he also worries about customers feeling unsafe.
“The main thing is the customer is a customer. You know, we don’t want to scare no customer that they I want to come here that I know the place to break into,” Le said.
HCSO is investigating the La Dolce cases. Tomball police are investigating Milano’s reported cases and told KHOU 11 they are reaching out to surrounding agencies to see whether any of the break-ins may be connected.
Anyone with information is asked to contact HCSO or Tomball police.
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