Texas
3 Texas men arrested after leading officers on high-speed chase near Cedar Park
CEDAR PARK, Texas – Cedar Park police are warning residents to be vigilant after Wells Fargo bank employees alerted them to a possible jugging situation Thursday morning.
“Jugging” is a crime in which a suspect waits for someone to withdraw money from a bank or ATM, then follows the person to steal the cash. The offense became a felony in Texas last September.
The backstory:
“It’s a fairly common phenomenon. We deal with it several times a year, ranging anywhere from $500 to we had one incident a few years ago with a $100,000 loss,” said Cpl. Dan Kitchens, Cedar Park Police Department.
On Thursday, April 30, bank staff described suspicious behavior from a group of men who were watching customers and appeared to be casing the location.
“Once we got in the area, the vehicle that the suspects were occupying went mobile, and we were able to follow it into another bank, Bank of America,” Kitchens said.
Kitchens said when the suspects noticed his police cruiser, they took off, leading officers on a high-speed chase. The pursuit went through the Riviera neighborhood, where two men jumped from a moving car.
Officers eventually caught the pair after a brief foot chase. They were identified as Gabriel Lara and Nicholas Barrientos.
Meanwhile, the driver continued but did not get far.
“They crashed on the 183 to 45 flyover when it was starting to rain really heavily,” Kitchens said.
The driver, Ruben Barrientos, was taken into custody at the crash site.
All three men are from Waco.
“We did interview them after the pursuit and the driver did say they came down to the area to conduct jugging-type robberies or burglaries,” Kitchens said.
They are only facing charges for evading arrest because police intercepted the suspects before any jugging incidents were committed.
“We do believe that they were involved in a jugging last Friday. We didn’t have a reported victim yet, but that was not in Cedar Park, that was in Austin,” Kitchens said.
Detectives have also since connected the trio to an active case out of Oklahoma, in which a victim was followed to a place of worship and approximately $25,000 was stolen.
Police remind residents to be aware of their surroundings, not to leave cash inside vehicles and to call 911 if they believe they are being followed.
The Source: Information from the Cedar Park Police Department and interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin’s Katie Pratt
Six Flags Over Texas’ new record-breaking dive coaster, Tormenta Rampaging Run, is now scheduled to open on Thursday, July 9, park officials announced Wednesday.
It had been scheduled to open on June 26 as part of the park’s 65th anniversary, but that was delayed due to longer-than-expected testing of the high-flying roller coaster.
When it announced the delay, the park said on social media, “… it ensures that when Tormenta charges out of the gates, it will be a ride experience worthy of its name – bold, intense, and unforgettable.”
Ride will break six world records
The Tormenta Rampaging Run is inspired by Spain’s Running of the Bulls. The coaster will be located in a new section of Six Flags called Rancho de la Tormenta, featuring Cocina Abuela – a Spanish/Latin American restaurant.
The ride, designed by coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, will begin with a 309-foot climb, followed by a 95-degree beyond-vertical drop, and will include sharp turns, airtime moments, and multiple inversions.
It will break six records when it opens: the tallest dive coaster (309 feet), the fastest dive coaster (87 mph), the longest dive coaster (4,199 feet), the tallest vertical coaster loop (179 feet), the highest Immelmann inversion (218 feet), and the highest 95-degree beyond-vertical drop (285 feet).
CBS News Texas will provide updates should additional information become available.
Texas
Phoenix Merchant Partners and Texas Capital Alternative Asset Management Form Strategic Relationship
Phoenix Merchant Partners, an independent alternative asset manager, and Texas Capital Alternative Asset Management (TCAAM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Capital Bancshares, formed a strategic relationship to provide customized capital solutions and direct lending to the core middle market across a diverse range of industries.
The relationship integrates the corporate and investment banking coverage network of Texas Capital with the structuring, underwriting and multi-cycle portfolio management expertise of Phoenix. Capitalizing on this powerful combination, Phoenix will launch its first vehicle, Spurstone Credit, in Q3/26. Structured as a perpetual-life, non-traded closed-end credit fund, Spurstone will be headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Spurstone has already attracted interest from a group of anchor institutional investors. The vehicle’s investment mandate will focus primarily on delivering senior secured financing solutions to core middle-market businesses with annual revenues between $100 million and $1 billion that are currently underserved in private credit.
“As the only full-service financial services firm headquartered in Texas, we continuously look for ways to serve the needs of companies and their owners, both in Texas and in our industries of focus across the country. Working with Phoenix expands and accelerates our ability to offer proprietary private credit financing solutions to deserving clients. The Phoenix team shares our disciplined approach to asset structuring, capital preservation and portfolio management, as well as our passion for providing exceptional client service and delivering comprehensive solutions,” Daniel Hoverman, head of corporate and investment banking at Texas Capital and president of TCAAM, said.
The vehicle’s strategy is designed to address a critical structural liquidity gap for non-sponsored, family-owned and founder-led mid-market enterprises requiring flexible, non-dilutive senior capital to fund organic growth, strategic acquisitions and balance sheet optimizations.
“Proprietary origination remains the single biggest differentiator in the private credit landscape,” Art Mbanefo, founder and CEO of Phoenix, said. “Working with TCAAM unlocks unparalleled access to high-quality, founder-owned businesses across Texas and other economic centers like California, New York and Illinois. Together, we are bridging the liquidity gap for exceptional middle-market companies.”
Spurstone will be advised by a newly formed, Phoenix-sponsored registered investment adviser, Ryestone Advisors, which is currently applying for registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. TCAAM will be a minority economic investor in Spurstone’s investment adviser.
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