Cedar park vape shops targeted
A Central Texas vape shop is looking for answers after two of their stores were broken into. The way the suspects got inside was the same each time, ramming a car through the front of the building.
CEDAR PARK, Texas – A Central Texas vape shop is looking for answers after two of their stores were broken into.Â
The way the suspects got inside was the same each time, ramming a car through the front of the building.
Vape shop break-ins
What they’re saying:
The latest break-in happened in the early hours of Monday, Oct. 20, at the Drip N’ Rip Vapes located in Cedar Park. It was around 3 a.m. when store footage showed a car being backed through the store’s front door. Once the doors bust open, several suspects can be seen making their way inside, grabbing bags of vapes instead of cash.
“You’re so heartbroken because they took something away from you,” says Drip N’ Rip owner Lacy Hobble.Â
She says the suspects were in and out of the store within a matter of three minutes.
It was just over a week since Drip N’ Rip’s Pflugerville location was the target of the same sort of break-in. The suspects used a car to break into the building before, once again, targeting the stores’ vapes.Â
In both cases, the suspects took several boxes of nicotine disposable vapes. The Cedar Park store lost around $3,000 worth of nicotine disposable vapes while the Pflugerville store lost over $8,000 worth.
A Central Texas vape shop is looking for answers after two of their stores were broken into. (Video courtesy: Drip N’ Rip Vapes)
Through Senate Bill 2024, passed on September 1, all disposable nicotine vapes from China were made illegal, cutting off a large portion of what was available in the Texas market.
“Now that they’re not easy to get in Texas and shipments are getting held up, these kids are really wanting their vapes and this is the outcome,” says Hobble.
With the loss of product and damages done to both stores, Hobble says she estimates they are out $50,000.Â
“Insurance isn’t going to cover it. We’re high risk, so they don’t really cover vape just because they know it’s a possibility for you to get broken into.”
But the break-ins aren’t keeping the stores down. Just hours after a car rammed through the store, the Drip N’ Rip Cedar Park location was up and running serving customers.
“We were ready to go by 10 o’clock for them to be here. We were serving vapes out of a big open hole in the building.”
Hobble says detectives told her other stores have been victims of the same sort of break-ins. Just down the road on Cypress Creek, Booze Work Liquor’s front half of the store was rammed by a vehicle back on October 10.
What’s next:
Cedar Park PD says it appears the vehicles used in the Drip N’ Rip break-ins are stolen.Â
No suspects have been officially identified.Â
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin’s Marco Bitonel