HOUSTON – A northeast Houston mechanic was devastated to see his mobile mechanic truck was broken into.
This man had built the business from the ground up, and now he is left footing the bill after two men, caught on surveillance video, took essential tools. The mechanic is asking for the public's help.
Meet Anthony Reaux
All it takes is just one look at this man's hands, and it is apparent that he is a mechanic hard at work.
"All day, 24/7," said Anthony Reaux, owner of Mobile Mechanic Road Services and Repair.
"24-7" is Reaux's business. He started Mobile Mechanic Road Services and Repair six years ago, offering repair and car services around the clock. As a boy interested in cars, he worked hard and created a good rapport with his customers.
"I have a big following in this community and I have a lot of customers that I've been serving since before I started the business," Reax said.
His goal?
"Just to be able to keep getting to my customers, and today I had to turn away a lot of customers due to the lack of tools that I needed," Reaux said.
What happened
Tuesday morning, Reaux said his neighbor woke him u,p saying that his truck doors were wide open. After checking the truck, he realized that thieves had broken into his mobile mechanic truck.
"With this loss, it's going to hinder me in a lot of different ways," Reaux said.
Reaux caught the act on surveillance video and said he filed a report with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
"See, they turn off the light," Reaux said, looking at the video.
The video shows what appears to be two men in a Chevy pickup truck getting into the truck and taking items including a compressor, a jack, an impact and several other items. Reaux said the thieves likely pulled the lock and then unlocked the rest of the truck.
"See, there they go right there ... taking that big old compressor," Reaux said.
Reaux estimated that they took $3,500 worth of tools.
What next
"I don't wish ill on anyone but when you do wrong, there's someone you have to answer to," Reaux said.
He said, as a single father, he just wants to make an honest living, feed his family and do his job. However, he said, no matter what, giving up is not an option.
"I'm going to keep trying to get forward and get past it, and hopefully, tomorrow will bring a better day," Reaux said.
He said he's had to turn away a lot of customers because of what happened but he is working quickly to hopefully make enough to replace the thousands of dollars of equipment he lost. He hopes that the thieves are caught so that they don't do this to anyone else.