Travis County Sheriff’s investigates another break-in at Steiner Cleaners Monday, Sept. 3.

Steiner Cleaners hit again on Labor Day

By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

Karl Schulte gets a phone call this morning before 7 a.m. His employee at Steiner Cleaners was pulling into a parking spot in front of the store and in her headlights saw a burglar rushing away in a gray/blue SUV.

The burglar smashed the front door — like what happened just eight days earlier — and drove a mid-sized Chevrolet, like an Equinox, which was an older model, maybe six years old or so, Schulte said.

They drove out of the Steiner Ranch shopping center taking the road next to Lakeside Pizza & Grill. In the process of leaving the center, they did not have their headlights on and nearly ran into a Lake Travis Fire Rescue firefighter, who was jogging. He confirmed the make and model of the vehicle, Schulte said.

“It’s aggravating at this point,” said Schulte, who lives in River Place. “They didn’t get anything. We moved things around.”

The attempted burglary happened around 6:45 a.m. on Labor Day Sept. 3.  By 9 a.m. the door was replaced and again the cost, like last time, was around $650.

Schulte said he’ll compare the Steiner Cleaners’ video and that of Wag-A-Bag’s surveillance to see if it was the same person who broke into his store on Aug. 26.

“It may be hard to tell because it was darker,” Schulte said.

Steiner Cleaners has an onsite plant and although the store is closed on Labor Day, an employee was going in to do a routine deep clean.

The latest crime comes on the heels of three break-ins in Steiner on Sunday, Aug. 26 round 5 a.m. at the cleaners, Cup & Cones and Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt.

The video then revealed the burglar had a hammer in one hand and a flashlight as he riffled through drawers at Steiner Cleaners. The perpetrator appeared to be a man around 6-foot tall and about 120 pounds wearing a black hoodie, mask and black gloves with white tennis shoes.

“My word, people are out at that hour,” said Kristi Lee Nordin, owner of Cups & Cones who was on her way back from her son’s wedding in Buffalo when she heard the news. “Looking forward to getting back and learning how we can help.”