SAN ANTONIO – A United States Postal Service worker was arrested Thursday morning after San Antonio Police said she went on a spending spree with the stolen bank cards of an elderly woman on her mail route.
KSAT found this is not her first brush with the law.
Jessica Rubio, a 31-year-old USPS worker, faces a felony charge for credit or debit card abuse against the elderly. The 65-year-old victim lived in the Medical Center area, but SAPD could not confirm how large Rubio’s route is.
Police did not arrest Rubio for mail theft, which is generally handled as a federal crime. The USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) confirmed it is also investigating, but a spokesman would not provide any details.
A search of online federal court records Thursday turned up no federal charges against the mail carrier.
According to an affidavit for Rubio’s arrest warrant, the victim told police on Apr. 10 that two replacement bank cards that were mailed to her had been stolen and used without her consent between Mar. 17 and Apr. 5.
The locations where the cards were used or how much was spent wasn’t included in the warrant documents. A police spokesman said those details were part of their investigation.
In any case, investigators with the Financial Crimes Unit found two local businesses where some of the charges had been made and were able to get photos of someone using the victim’s card.
Detectives showed the photos to the victim, who said she was “pretty confident” the person in them was her mail carrier. With assistance from USPS, detectives confirmed Rubio’s identity and route.
Police secured an arrest warrant midday Wednesday, and patrol officers took Rubio into custody without incident Thursday morning.
SAPD spokesman Officer Nicholas Soliz said Rubio confessed to taking two pieces of mail that were both credit cards and using both of them.
“It was good to get this person off the streets from doing this because, at this time -- we don’t have these numbers -- but who’s to say she wasn’t doing it before, however many number of times,” Soliz said.
Bexar County court records show Rubio was arrested in January 2014 for misdemeanor theft between $50 and $500 for stealing 18 pieces of clothing from Walmart. However, she successfully completed a pretrial diversion program, and the case was dismissed later that year.
KSAT asked a USPS spokeswoman whether they had been aware of Rubio’s previous arrest and where their investigation stands.
The request was forwarded to the USPS OIG, and a spokesman emailed the following statement:
The U.S. Postal Service employs more than 625,000 employees and is the largest civilian federal workforce in the country. This type of alleged behavior within the Postal Service is not tolerated and the overwhelming majority of Postal Service employees, which serve the public, are honest, hardworking, and trustworthy individuals who would never consider engaging in any type of criminal behavior.
Due to the ongoing status of this investigation, the USPS OIG is not releasing any additional information at this time.
ASAC David Wilsey - Public Information Officer, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General
SAPD is encouraging anyone in the Medical Center area who believes they may have also had credit or debit cards stolen out of the mail to file a police report.