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The truck, which belonged to the Corpus Christi business, was stolen from a hotel parking lot in Victoria, driven to Bayside where it was used to ram the doors of a convenience store in an attempted burglary, and then left running and abandoned at a Bayside public boat ramp, a few miles south of the store, a Refugio County deputy said Wednesday.
Lt. Rodney Cox, who is leading the investigation, did not have any suspects as of Wednesday, but said at least two people were involved.
Store owner Vicki Vega, who was at the store hours before the break-in, said she went to the store around midnight Wednesday to measure how much fuel remained in her tanks when she noticed a fresh set of wheel tracks leading around to the back of the store. No vehicles were behind the store though, so she dismissed it.
After finishing some other tasks, she armed the store’s alarm and left around 1:40 a.m.
When she arrived at the store early Wednesday, she found severed wires along the store’s walls, and even on the roof.
Vega speculated the burglars returned to the store and cut wires hoping to disable the store’s alarm system before they backed the pickup’s rear end through the store’s front doors.
Their plan did not work though.
Vega received a call from her alarm system’s company, Advantage Protection Systems, around 4 a.m. telling her the store’s alarm had been triggered and police were in route.
Cox said he thinks at least two people were involved because an accomplice was needed to pick up the thief in the stolen truck from the boat ramp.
They are believed to have continued south on Farm-to-Market Road 136 after abandoning the truck, Cox said.
The deputy is working with the Victoria County Sheriff's Department to obtain video from the hotel's parking lot and a statement from the J&S worker in Victoria on company business.
Brandon L. Leonard is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-574-1286 or bleonard@vicad.com. You can comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
To see video of the damage done to Bayside Grocery, go to www.VictoriaAdvocate.com and click on the story.