SAN ANTONIO – State investigators have made several arrests after uncovering an alleged fraud and mail theft ring operating at a Northwest Side apartment complex.
The latest arrest happened Tuesday at the complex, located on Whitby Road near Babcock Road. Alyssa Zurita, 24, was taken into custody on several charges, including fraud.
Three other people were arrested on similar charges earlier this month: Allen Searcy, 42; Angel Delagarza, 31; and Bryan Duenas, 44.
An arrest affidavit mentions two other people who investigators wanted to arrest. However, as of Friday afternoon, online records showed that had not yet happened.
The affidavit says the four suspects were on hand when criminal investigators with the Department of Public Safety raided the apartment on a warrant related to fraud.
“We were just getting up and suddenly we heard a noise, the voice yelling, ‘Open the door! Open the door!” said a neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous. “One of them had the rifle and all that, all the equipment. And then I said, ‘Wow, what is this going on?’”
The neighbor said the July 1 raid was actually one of two at the apartment this month. She said investigators returned there this past Tuesday.
The affidavit says during a search of the apartment, investigators found more than 400 pieces of personal information belonging to 273 victims. The victims included seniors, children and even a person who had died.
Additionally, it says they found several counterfeit mailbox keys, as well as machines to make them and phony credit cards.
It says the apartment itself was leased by the suspects using the name and information of one of the victims without his knowledge.
The neighbor who spoke anonymously was stunned to learn what investigators say was happening inside the apartment.
While there was no mention in the affidavit about exactly how the suspects were able to obtain the victims’ information, a neighbor said she suspects they may have gotten some of it from mailboxes at the same apartment complex.
She said she noticed recently that her own debit card had been stolen from her mailbox.
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