Houston-area nail salon owner warns of string of burglaries

A Spring nail salon owner says one burglar may be moving through Houston-area shops with the same tools, the same clothes and the same target: the cash register.

An Le said La Dolce Nail Spa in Spring was burglarized early Wednesday morning, when surveillance video showed a hooded suspect breaking through a storefront window and entering the business. Le said the suspect left with only a few hundred dollars, but the shattered glass, cleanup and replacement materials cost far more than the cash taken.

Le said the same suspect may also be tied to burglaries at other salons in the region, including locations in Tomball and Humble. He said his Humble shop was hit about two weeks earlier. In the video he reviewed, Le said the suspect appeared to be wearing a black hooded jacket, bright yellow shoes and carrying what looked like a small hammer.

KHOU also reported obtaining surveillance video from Milano Nail Spa that showed separate reported break-ins at its Tomball and Humble locations, adding to Le’s concern that the crimes were not isolated. For small businesses that already operate on tight margins, repeated break-ins can turn a modest theft into a serious financial setback, especially when repairs and cleanup exceed the money taken.

Le’s worries in Tomball go back even further. In an April 8 report, Tomball police said two juveniles from Louisiana were identified after allegedly getting about $450 in services at La Dolce Nail Spa in Tomball and leaving without paying. KHOU reported the incident happened less than three weeks after that location opened, that four technicians spent about four hours on the pair, and that family members later paid the bill. The women were also reported to have left in a gray Hyundai Elantra.

Taken together, the incidents have made Le’s message to other salon owners hard to miss: check your cameras, watch for repeat patterns and treat a small theft as a warning sign before it becomes a larger one. In Harris County, where the sheriff’s office says it serves more than 4.1 million residents, even a few recurring burglaries can ripple far beyond a single storefront.