After a concerned citizen questioned activities of a clerk at a local convenience store, an investigation by Early Police led to the arrest of 34-year-old Christina Balleza of Brownwood on Wednesday evening.
The investigation began on July 5th, when Early Police officer Stephanie Haile was dispatched to the convenience store which is located in the 900 block of Early Blvd. While there, the store owner told the officer that he believed one of his former employees, Christina Balleza had stolen more than $15,000 from the store over the course of the last year, according to an Early PD press release. When asked why he suspected this, he stated that a concerned citizen had called in the previous week reporting that when he was last in the store making a purchase, Balleza was working the register and never rang up his transaction in the register.
The store owner told police that this prompted him to investigate the clerk’s past transactions and to date; he had found over $15,000 in discrepancies when Balleza was working the register.
After gathering the facts and collecting store receipts, Early Police called Balleza in for questioning. During the investigation, Balleza admitted to the officers that she had stolen over $5000 from the store, but could not remember the exact amount as this had occurred during the last seven months, according to police. She stated that she knew where the security cameras were placed and made sure she was out of sight of them when taking the money.
On July 27th, Sgt. Shawn Dibrell filed a complaint at the Brown County Court House and was issued a felony arrest warrant for Balleza for the offense of Theft of $1,500<$20,000. On the same date, the warrant was signed by Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Bryan Thompson. Later that evening, Early police officer Jeff Benson located Balleza at her residence where she was placed under arrest for the warrant. Christina Balleza was transported to the Brown County Jail where she remained until her $10,000 pre-set bond could be made.
