WEBSTER, Texas – Marissa Morgan sat at the stoplight at Bay Area Boulevard and I-45 when she first noticed the man with a red gas can standing at the corner of the intersection. He looked innocent enough, Morgan thought, who had her four children in the car.
She smiled at him as she waited for the light, which prompted the man to walk over to her car. Morgan shook her head no at him, a sign she wasn’t going to give him any money, and refused to roll her window down.
“Why did you smile at me then?” Morgan recalled the man saying as he angrily hit his empty gas can against her car.
Morgan sped off.
The man’s name is Luz Alfred Garcia, but he’s better known throughout Clear Lake, Webster and League City as the Gas Can Man—a nickname that comes from the gas can he carries when he stands at the corner of intersections. It’s a panhandling ploy that’s far from original: someone stands on the side of the road pretending to be out of gas and asking for money.
But Garcia, 27, doesn’t have a car that’s run out of gas, and as far as local residents and law enforcement are aware, his red gas can has never seen a drop of gasoline.
“This is not someone who’s in need of those types of handouts for gas,” said Jason Finnen, chief deputy with the Harris County Precinct 8 Constable’s Office. “What we’ve been able to determine, it’s been pretty profitable for him.”
Garcia isn’t a typical panhandler, residents say. He’s aggressive, especially towards women, and isn’t afraid to step into the roadway or in front of cars to intimidate drivers into giving him money.
Garcia has bragged online that he makes anywhere from $400-$600 a day.
“You don’t know how important this job is,” Garcia told one man who recorded their encounter.
Rebekah Harris, of Houston, has had multiple run-ins with Garcia, including times she’s had to shoo him away when he’s tapped his gas can on her car. She says every time she sees him now she records their encounter in case something happens.
Garcia has a long rapsheet with various police agencies from the Webster Police Department, the Houston Police Department and the Harris County constables’ offices.
Garcia’s criminal record in Harris County dates back to May 2011 when he was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana. In the years since, he’s been charged with delivering cocaine in 2013, multiple trespassing charges, and making a terroristic threat last year.
This year alone, Garcia has been charged with obstructing a roadway and interfering with duties of a public servant.
The problem, residents say, is that Garcia is arrested and goes to jail but is immediately back on the streets within a day or two—sometimes within hours. Local law enforcement officials said their hands are tied after he’s taken to jail. They can continue to cite and arrest him, Finnen said, but it’s up to the district attorney’s office and judges to prosecute.
Harris County court records show that in most of his cases, Garcia often takes a plea deal, is sentenced to a few days in jail and is then back on the streets with his gas can.
It’s frustrating for drivers like Morgan, who said she’s changed her route to work to avoid areas where Garcia frequents.
Finnen stressed that drivers shouldn’t give Garcia money. The more money he makes, the more he stays around, and “so far we haven’t had much success keeping him out of our area,” Finnen said.
Much to the dismay of drivers.
“Eventually something is going to happen to a person or to him,” Morgan said. “And we’re going to look back at what we should have done. I don’t want it to get there.”