THE WOODLANDS, Texas
Undercover sheriff's deputies posed as pizza delivery drivers to make an arrest in robberies targeting food delivery workers, Local 2 Investigates reported Friday.
"They dressed like a pizza deliveryman, they carried a pizza delivery box and they actively went to deliver the pizza," said Lt. Dan Norris with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
It started Wednesday when a $50 food order came into the Ace Chinese Restaurant at Panther Creek in The Woodlands.
Owner Tommy Quan said a woman claimed she had just moved in to the Creekwood Village Condominiums on Tangle Brush, and when his driver arrived with the food, he found the apartment was vacant.
"The delivery man at that point was approached by a suspect who had a handgun and demanded not only the money but also took the food," Norris said.
The robber took his cellphone and the $20 that the 21-year-old college student delivery driver had in his wallet.
Quan said, "For me, that's appalling, especially for us ... we treat everyone in our operation as family, and that just breaks my heart. This kid couldn't sleep and he was trembling. It looked like he was in a seizure for an hour."
The local restaurant association sent out an alert to all area food establishments, warning that drivers may be set up for robberies by being lured to the vacant condo. Then a local pizza shop received an order at the same address.
"We outfitted two of our deputies as undercover pizza deliverymen," said Norris.
He said they made several phone calls to the woman who placed the pizza order and then spotted her, matching the description of the robber from earlier in the week.
Deputies detained 24-year-old Nikoya Wheaton and found she had two air guns that look like real handguns.
She was jailed on a charge of aggravated robbery for the first holdup and attempted robbery for the second try aimed at the pizza business.
Norris said the deputies confronted her before she could attempt a holdup in the latest delivery Thursday night.
Quan reacted to the arrest, saying, "That's great."
He said he admired the quick undercover police work.
The arrested woman told deputies she has four children.
Quan shook his head and wondered who would now take care of them now that she's in jail for robbing his young employee.
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