A former manager at Don Pedro Mexican Restaurant is facing a first-degree felony charge after police say she helped orchestrate an armed robbery at the South Side San Antonio landmark she used to help run. Blanca Velasquez, 43, was arrested on Tuesday, September 22, in connection with the aggravated robbery that unfolded two days earlier at the 58-year-old restaurant, according to an arrest affidavit.
Two suspects entered Don Pedro's through a rear service door on Sunday, September 20, held an employee at gunpoint and stole money from the office before fleeing ahead of arriving officers, according to the affidavit as reported by KSAT. San Antonio Police Department patrol units responded to the restaurant for a robbery in progress, per the affidavit, and the employee who was confronted suffered bodily injury during the encounter. Separately, KENS 5 reported that the two suspects pointed a shotgun directly at the employee's face before taking cash from the safe.
A Tattoo Seen on Security Video Cracked the Case
Investigators say security footage showed one of the suspects had a distinct tattoo on the index finger of their right hand. Don Pedro's owner told investigators the business had recently fired one of its managers, and reported that the former employee had a tattoo in the same location as the one captured on the recording, per the affidavit.
Velasquez was ultimately taken into custody on unrelated warrants, and the affidavit states she confessed to committing the aggravated robbery once questioned. Investigators noted she provided details about the crime that they assessed only someone with intimate knowledge of the incident would know, and the affidavit indicates she worked with someone else during the robbery. It remains unclear whether that second suspect has been identified or arrested, or whether any of the stolen cash has been recovered.
What Velasquez Now Faces Under Texas Law
Aggravated robbery involving a deadly weapon is classified as a first-degree felony in Texas, carrying a statutory penalty ranging from 5 to 99 years or life in prison, along with a fine of up to $10,000, according to Saputo Toufexis. The charge also carries steep consequences beyond prison time: Texas law imposes strict statutory restrictions on judge-ordered probation for first-degree felony convictions of this kind, since they're classified as violent felony offenses, per Brian Foley Law. In practice, that means a conviction typically points toward state prison time rather than community supervision.
A South Side Institution Since 1968
Don Pedro Mexican Restaurant, located at 1526 SW Military Drive, has anchored San Antonio's Harlandale-McCollum neighborhood since it was established in 1968, with founders Ruben Sr. and Leticia Sepulveda joining the staff in 1972 before the Sepulveda family took full ownership in 1978, according to the restaurant's own account. Today the business employs more than 140 full- and part-time staff and serves an average of over 12,500 customers weekly across its 350-seat facility, which includes a 3,800-square-foot dining room and full bar added during a later expansion.
The restaurant has long positioned itself as a fixture of South Side mutual aid among neighboring businesses. Co-owner Marco Sepulveda organized community support for nearby Bud Jones Restaurant in February 2025, an effort KSAT covered at the time, citing the two landmark dining institutions' long-standing ties.
Robbery Happened Amid a Citywide Drop in Similar Crimes
The alleged insider robbery comes even as San Antonio has recorded broad declines in robbery offenses over the past two years. Citywide robbery offenses dropped 16.4% in 2025 compared to the year before, according to San Antonio Police Department statistics presented in December, as detailed by KSAT. Midyear 2026 data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed the trend continuing, with San Antonio recording 618 robbery incidents between January and June 2026, down from 710 during the same period the year before.
Even so, property crimes remain the largest single category of reported offenses in the city, comprising 55.1% of all threat incidents recorded in San Antonio in 2025 — a total of 31,066 reported property offenses, according to Base Operations. Nearby, infrastructure investment has also reshaped safety conditions in the Harlandale-McCollum area: signal installations along Pleasanton Road in 2026 helped cut corridor crashes by 13% over eight months, as Hoodline previously reported.
It's still unknown what led to Velasquez's firing from Don Pedro's before the robbery, or how she allegedly moved from employee to accused armed robber of the same restaurant. Formal charges against her stand at aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and no additional arrests connected to the case have been announced.
