SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio couple who invested $25,000 in a local restaurant company has yet to recoup any money and is no longer receiving messages from the then-owner of the company, they told KSAT Investigates.
Christine and Jason Douglas said they were approached in 2022 by Robert Walker, who offered them a five-percent ownership stake in his company, in exchange for the five-figure investment.
“It was a very nice environment, nice person. We knew him for over 12 years,” said Christine Douglas, referring to the location on SW 36th Street near the couple’s home.
She said Walker needed financial assistance as he changed the name of his restaurant from Papa’s Burgers to The Good News Burgers and was attempting to expand the number of locations around San Antonio.
A promissory note signed by Walker that September laid out the installment payment structure, and Walker then received multiple money orders throughout that fall, financial records obtained by KSAT show.
The Douglases said their son-in-law contributed $8,000 of the $25,000 shortly after returning from a deployment in Iraq.
But nearly two years later, the couple said Walker has cut off communicating with them and has not returned any of their funds.
“It’s infuriating. It’s bad, because, I mean, he shook my hand. That meant a lot before, but now it doesn’t really mean nothing,” said Jason Douglas.
The couple said attempts to recoup their investment have been complicated by their working as traveling nurses away from San Antonio.
The Douglases spoke with KSAT via Zoom while working in the Midwest.
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking because I still don’t own my home and what I gave him could have paid off my home,” said Christine Douglas.
Walker was nearly two years behind in rent payments at one location when he accepted the Douglas’ investment
Starting in February 2023, Walker and his company were sued four times in just over 10 months, Bexar County District Court records show.
A lawsuit filed against Walker by a commercial real estate company last June said he agreed to a 64-month lease for a location in the 6900 block of San Pedro Avenue.
Walker paid the security deposit in late August 2020 but failed to make any actual rent payments, court records show.
The real estate company was awarded a default judgment and attorney’s fees against Walker in December totaling nearly $78,000, court records and an attorney for the company confirmed to KSAT.
A second suit filed against Walker by the same commercial real estate company in September, over his failure to pay rent at another location in the same business complex, is pending.
In that suit, attorneys for the real estate company sought and were later granted permission from the court to serve Walker through his LinkedIn profile, after he had evaded multiple attempts to be served in person, records show.
Walker’s outstanding rent in that case had ballooned to over $88,500 last August, records show.
The suit seeks a judgment against Walker for the full amount plus attorney’s fees, records show.
A third lawsuit filed against Walker by a restaurant supply company in February of last year accused him of not paying for more than $11,000 in goods, wares, merchandise and/or services, records show.
Many of the payments owed to the company were more than 200 days past due at the time the suit was filed, and multiple transactions toward what was owed were flagged by a bank as invalid or non-sufficient funds, records show.
The company was awarded a judgment and attorney’s fees in July totaling more than $12,800, records show.
An attorney representing the supply company did not respond to a phone call seeking comment for this story.
The fourth suit, filed by a company in January that had rented Walker space for his Potranco Road location, states that he abandoned the premises late last year and failed to pay rent “for several consecutive months,” according to the suit.
The suit was pending as of this week, records show.
An attorney for the property company did not respond to a phone message from KSAT seeking comment for this story.
Walker has not issued an answer denying the allegations in any of the four suits, records show.
He did not respond to a request for comment left at his listed home address and did not respond to a message from KSAT sent to Good News Burgers’ Facebook page.
Lone remaining location under new ownership
Walker’s restaurant locations on San Pedro Ave. and Potranco Road are now occupied by new tenants.
His location on Enrique Barrera Pkwy., which still has Papa’s Burgers signage, was boarded up and partially covered in graffiti when KSAT stopped by this year.
The location on SW 36th Street, however, remains in operation.
A woman working behind the counter identified herself as the restaurant’s new owner and said she acquired the business from Walker late last year.
Teri Flores, who said she worked as a manager under Walker and was familiar with the various locations of his restaurant, provided KSAT a copy of her certificate of occupancy, food establishment permit and Texas sales and use tax permit.
The records show she took over the operation of the lone remaining location late last year.
Flores confirmed Walker’s other locations are no longer in operation and that she has not been contacted by any plaintiffs who have sued Walker or are being awarded court judgments against him.
SAPD opens theft investigation
“We went in with no representation and we don’t have knowledge of business and how it works and that was a big mistake on our part,” said Christine Douglas.
She and her husband, through an attorney, sent Walker a letter in October demanding that the full $25,000 investment be returned to them within 21 days, records show.
Christine Douglas said she then filed a theft report with the San Antonio Police Department last month after Walker did not respond to the letter.
The case, which is listed as a theft of service between $2,500 and $30,000, remains under investigation, an SAPD spokesman confirmed to KSAT.
Christine Douglas said she was in the process of providing an SAPD investigator a copy of the financial records signed by Walker when she interviewed with KSAT.
KSAT could find no record that Walker has been criminally charged.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.