GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Alexcia Rosa Monee Higgs, 26, of Pembroke Pines, and Samantha Zany-Ezandra Johnson, 34, of Newberry, were arrested yesterday and charged with grand theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. Johnson is a mail carrier in Gainesville.
The arrests arose from a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) investigation of a complaint that a credit card had been requested, never received in the mail, but used four times at various locations. Working from the list of transactions, a GPD detective viewed surveillance video at a Gainesville Walmart that showed Higgs allegedly purchasing over $400 in fireworks with the stolen card. The card was then used to buy gas at a station in Jonesville, less than half a mile from Johnson’s house.
The detective contacted the bank that issued the card, and the bank provided Johnson’s phone number as the number used to activate the card. Johnson reportedly works for the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier and was reportedly working on the date when the credit card was due to arrive at the victim’s residence. Her route include’s the victim’s address, which is in the neighborhood behind Parkview Baptist Church, between NW 13th Street and NW 6th Street.
The detective also reportedly viewed surveillance video of Johnson and Higgs using the card to buy over $400 in liquor from Sam’s Club. The fourth purchase was at an ABC Liquors in Orlando, where over $100 in liquor was purchased.
Other cases of fraud are being reviewed, and the report notes that there is probable cause to believe that Johnson is suspected of using her position as a mail carrier to “illegally divert mail and benefit from the fraudulent use of the stolen credit cards.” Additional charges are expected.