HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A Harris County family of five lost their home during Hurricane Harvey, and thieves stole a bulk of what was left early Sunday morning from outside the Super 8 motel off North Freeway.
Matthew Macias, his wife, Skye Banegas, and their three children returned to the motel after 9 p.m. Saturday night. They parked their white Chevy 250 truck in the parking lot, which had their ATV in the bed, and went to sleep.
When they woke up Sunday morning they noticed their vehicle was gone.
Surveillance video from the motel showed a dark-colored truck pulling into an empty parking spot around 1:45 a.m.
A black male with a black shirt can be seen walking across the lot and near the family’s truck. Minutes later, cameras showed the man driving away in the truck, while the person in the dark-colored truck drives off in the opposite direction.
The family said they had one of their son’s shoes, their baby’s car seat and $4,000 worth of mechanical tools used in the truck.
“That was all we had left after the hurricane, the ATV and the truck and his tools. That was the only way for us to try to get ahead again,” Benegas said.
The family has been staying at the motel for the last seven months, saving what they could to restore what Hurricane Harvey destroyed. With thieves making off with what little they had left, that goal is getting harder to reach.
The Harris County Constable, Precinct 4 is investigating the theft.