Fort Bend County: 3 men charged in 7 armed robberies near Bellaire, Beechnut, Highway 6

Three men are in custody after Fort Bend County investigators tied them to a string of armed robberies that hit seven businesses over about a month, including a taco truck approached at gunpoint by an unmasked gunman.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests Tuesday. Alex Rosales-Puente, 22, and Wilfredo Perez, 21, were taken into custody on August 18. Ian Mohammad Dakka, 19, was arrested September 1. All three face charges of aggravated robbery.

Sheriff Eric Fagan said the men are accused of hitting businesses in the Bellaire, Beechnut and Highway 6 area, with six of the seven robberies occurring within a single 24-hour stretch, from the evening of August 6 into August 7. Fagan said the suspects approached victims without masks, displayed a gun and demanded cash. Investigators said the men made off with only a few thousand dollars total, taking whatever was in the registers.

No one was hurt in any of the robberies, according to the sheriff's office.

The case came together through a joint investigation involving the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, the Harris County Sheriff's Office and the Houston Police Department. Investigators said surveillance footage from multiple locations helped them link the robberies across jurisdictional lines and identify the three suspects as connected to the same pattern of crimes.

During the arrests, deputies recovered guns and other evidence they say ties the men to the robberies, though the sheriff's office declined to detail what was seized, citing the ongoing investigation.

Fagan said the case is not closed. "It's an ongoing investigation; right now we have three, there could be more, there could be other people who have been robbed who were just afraid to come forward," he said.

The sheriff's office is asking business owners and workers in the Bellaire, Beechnut and Highway 6 corridor who may have been targeted but did not report an incident to come forward. Investigators say some victims may not have contacted police out of fear or because the amounts taken were small.

The robberies hit businesses in both Fort Bend County and areas patrolled by Houston police and the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Coordinating surveillance video and case details across the three agencies took weeks before the arrests were made.

Rosales-Puente, Perez and Dakka remain in custody on aggravated robbery charges. The sheriff's office has not released bond amounts or court dates. Anyone with information on the robberies or additional victims is asked to contact the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.