Houston – KPRC 2 News identified several cases in recent years where people return from vacation to find their vehicles left on blocks or gone from Bush International Airport parking garages.
It happened to Stephen Janes new pickup truck this week at IAH’s terminal C garage.
Another viewer wrote to KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun about finding their GMC Yukon left on blocks days prior in the C garage.
And Joe Hempel told us about his vehicle stolen from the same garage in December 2022.
“We paid for pre-parking. We’re parking in the garage. We’re parking next to the security area. It will happen and that’s not what happened,” said Hempel. “You’re supposed to be leaving your car in a safe space. You pay the extra money for peace of mind.”
We want to know, has this happened to you? Let us know using the form below. We’re looking into how often this happens and if there has been any resolution in these cases.
Yet on Tuesday, an airport spokesperson told KPRC 2 that all parking garages are operated by a third party. They said they are reviewing surveillance video at the request of HPD.
RELATED: Truck parked in Bush Airport garage found on cinder blocks with all 4 tires removed
How do these thieves get away with it? We asked Jacob Acuna with America’s Choice Automotive about how thieves can strip the wheels off of a vehicle and disappear.
In a controlled test, Acuna and his team were able to do it carefully in under two minutes.
“Most thieves don’t care about how they take the vehicle. They just take the wheels, take off, leave the car on the floor, it doesn’t matter,” said Acuna.
The solutions to preventing theft aren’t great, but there are locks that can be placed on vehicle wheels.
“But if they’re really good thieves they already have all kinds of locks with them all they have to do is find which locks go best,” said Acuna.
Meanwhile, Houston airports say they’ve requested operators of the parking garage to hire more private security guards.
Houston Airports Communications sent the following statement to KPRC 2 regarding the recent thefts:
“A company named SP+|Global|IMS has a concession agreement to manage all parking facilities for Houston Airports through FY 2031. Houston Airports has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Houston Police Department to provide security at the airport, which includes all parking facilities. At the request of Houston Airports, SP+|Global|IMS has hired private security guards to supplement the Houston Police Department. Houston Police Department tracks incidents its officers have responded to at Houston Airports, just as they would any other crime in the city. For context, that’s why in Monday’s response to KPRC2, Houston Airports confirmed the private security guard reported an incident to Houston Police. Any cameras inside parking facilities are setup by Houston Police. You’d need to ask the Houston Police Dept. for more details. Houston Airports has cameras at the entrances and exits of each parting facility. Houston Airports will review that footage at the request of Houston Police detectives.”