Springfield woman stole money from customers, gave it to inmates, police say
Police say a Springfield woman stole credit card information from customers of a heating and air conditioning company and transferred more than $6,500 to inmates at the Greene County Jail.
Rhonda Russo, 39, was charged Tuesday with identity theft, trafficking in stolen identities and 14 counts of fraudulent use of a credit device after police say she used stolen identities to load money onto inmates' phone accounts starting in September.
Police say Russo loaded some of the money onto the Telmate account of her boyfriend Jason Goetz, an inmate at the Greene County Jail, for him to make phone calls.
Russo also loaded money onto accounts belonging to inmates other than Goetz, according to a probable cause statement, and police believe that was the main objective of the scheme.
When inmates are released from jail, they are given debit cards for the amount of money that is left in their accounts. Police believe Russo's plan was to load money onto inmates' accounts and then get their debit cards after their release, according to the statement.
The statement says phone calls Goetz made from jail to Russo — which are all recorded — helped investigators uncover the scheme.
The statement says Russo acquired the credit card information from invoices she collected while working as a customer service representative at Brownsberger's Aire Serv, a local heating and air conditioning company.
Russo was fired from the job prior to charges being filed after she allegedly forged the business owner's signature on a letter to the Greene County court which said Goetz was an employee of the business, according to the statement.
The statement says there are at least 13 victims in this case, and they all had work done by Brownsberger's Aire Serv within the past year.
Cathy Brownsberger, co-owner of Brownsberger's Aire Serv, said the company plans to reach out to all of its recent customers to make them aware of the situation.
"This person is no longer employed with us, and we are doing everything possible to help our customers and authorities in any way possible," Brownsberger said.
Cathy Brownsberger said she has been advised to not make any further comment about the case to avoid jeopardizing the prosecution.
Online records indicate a warrant has been issued for Russo's arrest. She does not have an attorney listed for this case.