Woman accused of stealing from purses at church arrested

HOUSTON

Suspect Cynthia Gonzalez, aka Cynthia Martinez, was arrested in Florida on September 4 and is now in custody at the Pasco County Jail. Gonzalez/Martinez, 43, was arrested after police there received a tip of her whereabouts.

Gonzalez/Martinez is currently wanted in Harris County for tampering with government records, credit card abuse and forgery. She is also wanted out of Montgomery County and has several warrants in Florida.

Back in June, the Harris County Sheriff's Office released surveillance video Gonzalez/Martinez allegedly robbing another woman's purse as the owner of the purse was taking communion in a Harris County church.

That same month, the Conroe Police Department say store surveillance video shows Gonzalez/Martinez, wearing her scrubs from work, using someone else's credit card at a T-Mobile store last September. That credit card was allegedly stolen while Martinez worked at the Sadler clinics in Conroe.

Gonzalez/Martinez's rap sheet goes back 20 years. Dating back to 1989, she has been convicted of three counts of theft, two counts of forgery, one count of theft of service and five counts of credit card abuse.

She was charged with credit card abuse on May 10 for stealing an AMEX card from a woman's purse while it was one a pew during service at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton on April 18. Gonzalez/Martinez is also currently charged with forgery for using stolen checks taken from a woman during a committee member meeting for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on January 12.

What's even more surprising is that the Harris County District Attorney's Office now believes Gonzalez/Martinez had felony indictments against her dismissed because she provided a doctor's note saying she was terminally ill and in hospice.

HCSO investigators say they will wait on Gonzalez/Martinez's extradition to Texas before pursuing any further charges.

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