Strangers move in, make 79-year-old ‘a prisoner in his own home,’ Texas officials say
A 79-year-old Texas man was made “a prisoner in his own home” for months after a trio of strangers moved in, according to investigators.
The man had gone to Louisiana for a funeral, and when he returned to his home in Tomball, Texas, in December, it was immediately clear that something wasn’t right, according to a criminal complaint filed June 2 in Harris County.
His truck was missing from the driveway, and three “brand new” vehicles had taken its place, documents read. They had been financed in his name and without his knowledge, the complaint says.
He stuck his key in the front door but it wouldn’t open because the locks had been changed.
Inside were three people, two women and a man, the complaint says.
The homeowner, a disabled veteran, had tried to help one of the suspects, he told TV station KHOU. Now he was paying for his kindness.
“I wished a thousand times I never helped them, but I did,” he said.
For several months, the trio controlled his home and his finances, documents say. When they needed money, or cash for gas, they would beat him with a plastic rod until he gave it to them, the complaint says.
His life continued like this until mid-February, when the man took one of the suspects to get an oil change, documents said. A witness noticed bruises all over his arms and asked where they came from, and the man wouldn’t answer.
Worried, the witness later went to his home and took him to a doctor, where he opened up about what was being done to him, investigators said. She filed for an eviction on his behalf and police cleared the trio out of the home.
They stole a number of appliances during their stay at the house, the witness and friend, Patti Hallas, told KHOU.
“They took the TVs, they took the wall oven, they took the refrigerator, they took everything,” she said.
Two of the suspects, women ages 43 and 39, are facing charges of aggravated robbery, court documents show.
Their male accomplice is charged with injury to the elderly, KHOU reported.
Tomball is roughly 35 miles northwest of downtown Houston.
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