by Mark Wiggins
TEMPLE - A favorite Central Texas restaurant chain is under siege.
Thirteen Bush's Chicken locations have been targeted by burglars over the last few weeks, and now franchise owners is doing its best to fight back.
Penny Gallegos has worked for Bush's for eight years, and bought her Temple franchise in 2008. Her store was hit early Friday morning, and two masked men were caught on store surveillance attempting to steal her two safes.
"It's two stores a week, you know," Gallegos said. "They're just, 'Boom-boom,' and I'm not sure why. I don't know why we're the target."
The rash of break-ins stretches from Waco and China Spring in the north, to as far south as Georgetown, Cedar Park and Round Rock. All four franchises in Killeen have been hit, along with locations in Belton, Harker Heights and Copperas Cove.
Gallegos says after the fourth Killeen location was broken into, she had a feeling her restaurant would be next. Less than 24 hours later, her fears proved accurate.
"Why are you coming in here and messing with my life?" she said. "You know, it's not just a building, it's my life. This is my future, this is my kids' future, so it affects all of us."
Security footage taken from Gallegos' store showed two masked men breaking through her drive-through window and attempting to steal two safes. Fortunately, Gallegos' safes were bolted to the ground, and the failed burglars were forced to leave empty-handed.
"It was really funny watching both of them pull on it, but it's not going anywhere, and that's how all the stores are," she said.
Earlier this month, three burglars were caught on camera stealing a safe from the Bush's Chicken in Harker Heights. Less than a week later, burglars stole a safe from the location in China Spring.
All of the break-ins show similar characteristics, two or three masked men enter through the drive-through and head straight for the office. Every time, the thieves are in and out in under two minutes.
Some franchise owners say the level of familiarity the thieves show with their surroundings lead them to believe the thieves could be led by someone who either worked for the restaurant, or performed services for Bush's locations around Central Texas.
With police in half a dozen cities, so far they unable to produce significant leads. Gallegos says franchise owners are ramping up security measures, but even that may still not be enough.
"We all work really hard for what we have, and just to have to sit there and worry that's your store's going to be broken into shouldn't be one of our concerns," she said.
Gallegos says she's offering a $1,000 reward, on top of $1,000 already being offered by the Harker Heights location, for information leading to the burglars' arrest.
