SOUTH BEXAR COUNTY — Charges were filed against Mystkial Garcia-Alvear in connection with a series of business burglaries in south Bexar County. Garcia-Alvear, 27, was already in jail in connection with a different string of burglaries when the new charges were filed.

The crimes occurred in September 2025. An arrest affidavit states that Garcia-Alvear, Brion Shields, and Joseph DeLeon broke into four businesses in the area near Loop 1604 and U.S. Highway 281 South. The affidavit states the suspects broke into The Sugar Leaf Smoke Shop, Ruiz Market, and Thelma Food Store. The warrant states the suspects entered the businesses by using a saw to cut the locks.

The suspects are accused of stealing merchandise and cash from the businesses. In some cases, the suspects took entire ATMs and a safe. Shields is 39 years old.

DeLeon is 32 years old. Investigators used surveillance video and phone records to identify Garcia-Alvear and link him to the case. Brion Shields and Joseph DeLeon were arrested previously in connection with this case.

Shady Oaks Groceries was the first store hit in the September 2025 series of burglaries. Hardip Singh owns Shady Oaks Groceries, one of the businesses targeted. The suspects took approximately $400 from the cash register and approximately $500 from another cash box at the store.

"They cut the locks, and they broke the glass," Singh said. "They tried to take out the ATM and the game machines, but they can't do that."

Singh upgraded the security measures at his business. "I mean, that's sad. What can you do?" he said. All three suspects face charges in a series of other burglaries.

Bexar County has seen a rise in business burglaries in recent years, with 2025 recording the highest number of such crimes in the past decade, according to Bexar County Sheriff's Office statistics. In 2025, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office reported 142 business burglaries in the South Loop area alone, with a significant portion involving ATMs and cash registers.

In 2025, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office issued a warning about electrical breaker thefts targeting new construction sites, with incidents reported in the first quarter of the year. Garcia-Alvear had previously been arrested in 2022 for a separate burglary case involving a storage unit employee and was charged with theft and burglary. In 2024, Garcia-Alvear was part of a car theft ring that targeted Bexar County sheriff's vehicles, with one suspect admitting to taking a laptop, laptop brackets, and an orange Echo backpack leaf blower from a sheriff's vehicle.

Mystkial Garcia-Alvear was previously identified in a 2025 investigation into a string of burglaries involving a black Dodge Durango, which was later linked to ATM thefts and the use of items like a cordless grinder and a yellow dolly. Joseph DeLeon, another suspect linked to Garcia-Alvear, was previously arrested in 2023 in connection with a separate burglary case targeting 200 storage units in Bexar County. Brion Shields, one of Garcia-Alvear's alleged accomplices, was previously arrested in 2025 for a burglary that involved stealing an ATM and a safe worth approximately $18,000 from Ruiz Market.