Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Roswell Tribune
Police in Texas arrested a former Roswell woman on a warrant charging her with 25 counts of fraud.
A sheriff’s deputy with an unnamed Texas county arrested Roshelle Ruffin, 40, of Houston, Texas, on July 12 on the warrant issued on March 30, following an investigation by the New Mexico Department of Justice.
Ruffin’s attorney, Adam Oakey, had asked the magistrate court to cancel the arrest warrant on April 6, writing that she hired an attorney as soon as she found out she had been charged. He asked for a virtual arraignment in the case, which Magistrate Judge K. C. Rogers denied on June 15.
A day after she was arrested on the warrant, Magistrate Judge James Mason released her on her personal recognizance.
Ruffin is charged with 25 counts of fraud between $500 and $2,500, after she allegedly stole an aggregate of $70,000 from her employer, the Krumland Auto Group, which owns Roswell Ford, Roswell Nissan and Roswell Toyota, according to a news release from the New Mexico Department of Justice.
A preliminary examination in the case is set for Aug. 12.
Scheme saw Ruffin issue checks to herself
New Mexico Department of Justice Agent Stephen Garcia wrote in a criminal complaint that the attorney for Krumland Auto Group, BJ Crow, contacted the office to make an allegation of theft against Ruffin. She was employed at the company between Jan. 20, 2023 and Jan. 22, 2024.
Ruffin had worked in the accounting office and had the authority to sign checks. Crow told agents that Ruffin was allegedly locating old unissued checks for tax, title and license refunds and issuing them to herself and other people, who would then transfer the money back to her.
When agents investigated, they found the money was being sent back to her through the money transfer platform Zelle. The people getting the checks included her father, her sibling and her daughter’s girlfriend, Garcia wrote.
When an agent called Ruffin and asked why the refund checks had been made out to her father, she allegedly said that she couldn’t explain why but she was willing to pay the money back. She allegedly said she used the money to pay her bills. The alleged fraudulent checks ranged from $600 to $4,952, Garcia wrote.
When agents began researching her resume, they found she listed a degree for “Business Office Administration from Genesis” which proved to be a fake college and did not get a degree she claimed she had. In Texas, she had been convicted in 2015 of felony theft by check over $500, Garcia wrote.
