Overview
- Seven West University Place homes have been targeted since January 2025 in evening break-ins that focus on the rear of houses between 7 and 9 p.m.
- Police describe a consistent method using ladders or outdoor furniture to reach second-story windows and steal high-value items such as jewelry and designer handbags.
- Investigators say suspects moved or disabled cameras, used signal jammers to disrupt alarms and Wi‑Fi, and carried stolen goods in pillowcases or backpacks.
- At a packed public safety meeting, Chief Gary Ratliff highlighted interagency work and tools including Patrol Finder routes, license plate reader cameras, enhanced patrols, and new virtual gate cameras.
- One suspect, Ignacio Castillo Contreras, was previously charged in a 2025 Sewanee Avenue case, and person of interest Christian Mauricio Rubio Pizarro is jailed on separate tampering charges and an immigration detainer without local burglary charges.