ID Theft Arrest

From staff reports

Tue, May 13 2008

— A Buda woman took advantage of the pretext of searching for hand-me-down clothing for her young child to steal an expired drivers license that allowed her to cash numerous checks, documents in the case against Amber Dawn Rountree suggest.
Rountree, 36, was arrested March 20 on charges of forgery, stealing or receiving stolen checks and identity theft. Deputies with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office are still going through filing cabinets and other materials seized from her home in the 100 block of Bradford Street.
According to affidavits of probable cause for Rountree’s arrest, she was able to steal a woman’s expired license while in the victim’s mother’s garage, presumably looking for used clothing that would fit Rountree’s child.
Using the license, she was able to cash several stolen checks, at least one of them at the Wal-Mart in Buda, for upwards of $1,000.
The investigation began in Feb. 29, when a Buda businessman called police after finding out a check he had expected to arrive in the mail had been cashed by someone else.
Video footage of the check cashing gave police a physical description that did not match that of the name on the drivers license used to make the transaction.
The final pieces of the puzzle came together when the victim was located and her mother positively identified Rountree as the “friend” who had looked through her old baby clothes.
In addition to the filing cabinets, deputies seized two computers from Rountree’s home.
The investigation is continuing.