HOUSTON – A 77-year-old man living in the Glenshire community of southwest Houston was the victim of an aggravated robbery home invasion, according to Houston police.
The victim was standing in his driveway when the suspect approached him. He managed to get away and run inside the house and slammed the door. The suspect chased after him and tried to break in the home. Houston police arrested Joshua Trahan.
Residents say what happened to their elderly neighbor is the symptom of a much larger problem. Glenshire's HOA Community relations director tells Local 2 that Trahan had been staying at a motel on the fringe of the neighborhood where she says rooms are rented by the hour.
"They're dubbed 'hot sheet motels.' He had admitted to HPD that he had been there, lived there and that he walked into the subdivision," said Sheri Cortez.
Houston City Council Member Larry Green's office tells Local 2 HPD has received enough complaints about the three motels along the West Beltway near West Bellfort to warrant several undercover investigations and stings. A number of arrests have been made for various charges including one rape, two robberies, two assaults and drugs.
"Our concern is that they keep going up blindly and there is no monitoring of these motels." Cortez said.
The robbery left residents on edge but the neighborhood has been dealing with other crimes like mail theft and vehicle break-ins. No one can say for sure who's responsible, but Cortez says enough is enough.
"We are good for the hotels. We are good for the people that are staying there because they want what we have," Cortez said.
Police tell us they've received close to 60 calls for service to those three motels since the beginning of the year, but not every call led to an arrest or to someone being charged with a crime.