STUART, Fla. — A woman who noticed fraudulent charges in her bank account took matters into her own hands and tracked down the suspect.
"I live paycheck to paycheck. I'm a single mother. Every penny counts," Khristina Hood told WPTV.
Hood's bank account was wiped clean earlier this week, leaving her out $900. She knew she had to do something about it.
"That's a big amount for me. It might not be much to others but to me, that's a lot," she said.
Hood checked her account history and noticed eight transactions that she didn't make at a Wawa convenience store in Port St. Lucie and another Wawa in Stuart.
When Hood called the Wawa in Stuart, she said they had a hunch about who was responsible.
"(The Wawa employee) was like, 'Well, he's spending about an hour at the pumps.' So, the time stamp was about 6 o'clock at night, 6:02 p.m. to be exact, and he stayed there until 7:03," Hood said. "He's just putting in debit cards, left and right, left and right, gift cards at the diesel pump, 9 and 10, so they're back to back.”
Workers were able to give her a description of his vehicle, and she decided to drive by on Wednesday night around that same time.
"We pulled in and I got goosebumps. I froze. I started shaking because that same description that I had fresh in my head was sitting right there at the pump doing the same thing," Hood said.
Hood called 911, and Stuart police responded immediately.
They posted pictures of the scene on Facebook.
Police said the suspect, Rosniel Jimenez Gonzalez of Fort Lauderdale, was caught red-handed with a truck bed full of gas tanks filled with diesel that was hidden under a carpet.
Gonzalez also had 28 fraudulent credit and debit cards and stolen identifications, according to police.
"I'm glad I was able to stop him from doing it to other people because of the way he hurt me," Hood said. "I don't want anyone to ever feel that way."
Gonzalez was arrested and charged with trafficking in or possessing counterfeit credit cards, unlawful conveyance of fuel, obtaining fuel by fraud, fraudulent use of credit card more than two times within six months and unlawful possession of personal ID of five or more people.
As for Hood, she's working with her bank in an effort to get her money back.
"I have nothing. I was unable to get my license updated. I can't drive right now. My rent is not paid. My bills are not paid," Hood said. "Now I have to go to all of these people and explain what happened."
Hood told WPTV that police believe her information was stolen through a card skimmer.
