Brazen Thief Steals AC Unit From OKC Restaurant In Broad Daylight

Extremely brazen thieves hit a South OKC bar and restaurant twice in broad daylight and the owner caught both men on surveillance cameras that surround his businesses.

Within the last year, restaurant and bar owner Juan Lopez says several businesses along South Robinson have had entire AC units stolen. But what has them concerned is these thieves aren't afraid to make a move, no matter where the unit might be. 

"I had just installed it that weekend," said Lopez.  

Lopez and his wife have owned Tenampa bar and the restaurant next door off S. Robinson for more than 20 years, and say they've had to deal with some petty thefts over the years. But recently, two brazen thieves, caught in action on surveillance video, really caught them off guard.

"So what he does, he sneaks in, scopes the joint out, looks through the door at the back of the bar, looks in the window of this little warehouse that we have, and then jumps on the low roof of the warehouse," said Lopez.  

Incredibly bold is what Juan calls it. It's about 6:00 a.m., his wife, and two other women were inside the restaurant cooking while the AC unit was being stolen. The women missed it by minutes on the surveillance monitors inside.

"We're too busy cooking, so we didn't even look," said Juan Lopez's wife.

The man was nearly electrocuted during the theft. You can see sparks fly in the surveillance video as he cuts the connections. Moments later, he backs in a maroon Ford Ranger, and within 15 minutes he's gone.

About four months later, another brazen robbery took place at about 4 p.m. in the afternoon.  

"He comes walking, strolling through here, pulls on our door and looks around, glances around and he motions the young man driving the Ford Bronco to drive around and whip around this corner behind my truck," said Lopez.

That thief leaves with a bag of work tools in less than three minutes.

"It's been a lot of things happening around here, so I guess know, we need to keep our eye more open because you never know who's going to come behind you," said Juan's wife.

Lopez was out about $1,200 after his AC unit was stolen. He also installs AC units for a living. As far as they know, police have not caught up with the two men.