DPS: Man admits to stealing other people's information

SAN ANTONIO – Russell Mathis, 32, a suspect in a drug case, has confessed to taking part in an identity theft operation, according to investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

An arrest warrant affidavit stated that investigators were called to a local hotel room March 31 and found evidence of that operation.

San Antonio police had been there originally, acting on a tip they’d received, when they found drugs as wells as evidence of identity theft inside the room, the affidavit stated.

DPS investigators also searched the room and said they found piles of unopened mail, papers with other people’s identifying information and nine phony drivers licenses with Mathis’ photo but other people’s names and addresses on them, the affidavit stated.

They said they questioned Mathis, and he admitted to breaking into mailboxes and stealing information in order to commit identity theft.

SAPD officers arrested him at that time on charges related to the drugs. The charges of fraudulent use of identifying information and tampering with government records were added Wednesday.