Timothy Caballero (Austin Police Department)
AUSTIN, Texas - A man is in custody after he broke into a downtown Austin restaurant, caused thousands in damage, and drank from multiple expensive liquor bottles.
47-year-old Timothy Caballero has been charged with state-jail felony burglary of a building.
What we know:
Court paperwork outlines the events of the morning of April 16.
Austin police responded to the Taquero Mucho at 508 West Avenue around 8:20 a.m. for a call from an employee reporting a man inside with a kitchen knife.
When officers arrived, they saw a broken window leading into the dining area, along with a jacket and a floor mat on the table possibly used to gain entry.
APD was joined by K9 units and DPS and attempted to call the suspect out of the restaurant. However, after over an hour of no success, law enforcement entered the restaurant with a drone and found he was no longer inside.
Officers later found the suspect sitting in a creek bed about 200 feet north of the restaurant. The suspect was detained and identified as Caballero and compared to video footage from the restaurant. The description, videos and photos matched Caballero's clothing and attire down to his red shoelaces. A jacket also matching the description was found in Caballero's campsite under a bridge.
According to the affidavit, while inside the restaurant, Caballero tore out the wires of the store's surveillance system, broke the business's computer, and broke the Ring alarm system, causing about $4,000 in damages with a more thorough estimate in the works.
He also drank from multiple expensive liquor bottles, making them unable to be sold.
Dig deeper:
Caballero is still in the Travis County Jail as of April 21. Bond had been set at $25,000 for the burglary charge with conditions to stay away from the business, follow a mental health treatment plan and not possess any firearms or ammunition.
Caballero also has an extensive criminal history in Travis County with multiple dismissed misdemeanors going back to 1999. He previously pled down a state-jail felony possession charge to a misdemeanor in 2024, getting a jail sentence.
He has an active indictment from 2025 for second-degree felony burglary of a habitation.
What's next:
He has a court date scheduled for May 8 for both active felony charges.
The Source: Information in this report comes from court paperwork and Travis County court/jail records.