When asked for comment on this repeat offender, DA José Garza blamed policymakers for not funding mental health resources. But Texas law already gave him the tools he says are missing.
If Telemacque truly needs long-term care, the DA can petition a court for civil commitment -- the one mechanism that gets a sick man treatment and keeps him off the street. Garza did not bother. He reduced the charge, agreed to time served, and put him back on 6th Street to continue stealing from local businesses and harassing service workers.
AUSTIN MAN broke into the same downtown grocery store a dozen times. The last two times came just days after prosecutors reduced his burglary charge and then a judge set him free with time served.
The other day Tyroan Telemacque smashed the sliding glass window of the Royal Blue Grocery on East 6th, filled his backpack from behind the counter, and climbed back out the same window.
Less than 24 hours later he jumped through the glass at the front of the 3rd and Lavaca location and did it again. His usual haul is a pack of Newports, Coors, Modelos, a Black & Mild pack.
He once shoved a hospital intern into a bed rail, cutting her leg. He also punched a fellow inmate in the face inside the county jail.
He’s logged 52 cases in Travis County, including dozens of burglary charges. Only 10 convictions and a wall of dismissals, time-served deals, and charges folded into one another
He's hit Royal Blue so many times the owner knows him on sight. He's been banned from every Royal Blue in Austin since 2023, so there isn't really anything left for business owners to do. Cops have even arrested him trespassing on the chairs out front before.
Each break-in costs the store $3,000 to $5,000. What is left for them to do?