Nixon man jailed after Taco Ranch burglary

NIXON— A local man was arrested after police said he broke into a restaurant and stole cash, cigarettes, cash registers and credit card readers.

At 5:35 a.m. June 14, Officer T. Hatcher was dispatched to the Taco Ranch restaurant in the 600 block of W. Central Ave. in reference to a report of a burglary, Chief Mario Hernandez said. Upon arrival, Hatcher met with the property owner and noticed that the front door of the restaurant had been pried open.

A search of the building revealed several items to be missing, including two cash registers, two credit card readers, several cases of cigarettes, two $1 bills (used as a decoration of the first dollars ever earned by the restaurant) as well as other items.

A subsequent investigation by Hatcher and Officer Jerry Airola revealed that earlier that morning Dantavis Devon Fripp, 27, was a passenger in a vehicle returning from a dance club outside the city limits. When the car returned to Nixon at 2:30 a.m., Fripp was dropped off at the intersection of Rancho Rd. and East Central Ave., near the restaurant. Witnesses said Fripp broke one of the front windows with a rock and reached in and unlocked the door, placing the aforementioned items in a garbage can. He then took the items to a residence at the intersection of 3rd and Franklin Sts. and dropped them off in the garage.

Officers later arrived at the residence and spoke with Fripp, who admitted to stealing the items and returned them to the officers. He was transported to Gonzales County Jail and charged with burglary.

Hernandez commended the officers, noting that the investigation and arrest was conducted in just one day.