Residents say burglaries in rural Cameron County rising

RANGERVILLE — After being repeatedly victimized by burglars, Charles Aldridge is ready to take the law into his own hands, he said.

On Tuesday, he begged county commissioners to help him. He claims his pleas to Sheriff Omar Lucio’s office, District Attorney Armando Villalobos’ office and Precinct 7 Constable Cesar Diaz’s office have yielded no results.

“The DA has money to have a task force to arrest people for eight liners (video gaming machines),” he said at Tuesday’s Cameron County Commissioners Court meeting. “Why not have a task force to catch burglars?”

The sheriff’s department says there has been no recent rash of burglaries in the Rangerville area, as Aldridge claims.

Aldridge said that in the most recent burglary at his home on FM 675 on Oct. 5, a third riding lawnmower was stolen from his garage. A motorcycle has also been stolen from his property, Aldridge said.

“I called the sheriff on Sept. 24,” he said, referring to an attempted burglary at his home in which a screwdriver was used to pry open a lock. But no effort was made to catch the would-be thieves, he said.

On Oct. 5, the thieves came back, Aldridge said.

They used a screw gun to remove a hasp and padlock so a riding lawnmower only six weeks old could be removed from his garage, he said.

“I guess I’m going to have to stay up all night with a 12-gauge (shotgun),” he told county commissioners.

Plenty of his neighbors have also lost property due to the numerous break-ins that are occurring in his neighborhood, Aldridge claimed.

But Chief Deputy Gus Reyna refuted Aldridge’s claims.

“There has not been a string of burglaries out there,” Reyna said. “The only (recent burglary) report I have in that area is at his house on Farm-to-Market Road 675,” Reyna said.

The sheriff’s department has already cracked down on burglaries in the Rangerville area and the crime rate there has gone down as a result, Reyna said.

Aldridge said he and his elderly mother are both living on disability payments and cannot afford to keep replacing lawnmowers and other expensive items.