Couple Arrested for Fraudulent Use of Credit Card and Grand Theft

On 03-18-15, Susan Ruge, an employee at Oak Hill Hospital, reported that while working, she left her handbag unattended in her unlocked office. When Ruge returned home from work that night, she noticed that her wallet was missing from her handbag. She suspected it had been stolen sometime during the day, while the handbag was unattended in her office.
 Shortly after making the initial report, Ruge noticed that someone was making charges with her credit cards. She immediately began cancelling the credit cards and called the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office to make a second report. The fraudulent charges consisted of $367.69 at Target on Commercial Way in Spring Hill, $281.21 at Publix on Commercial Way in Spring Hill, and $29.02 at RaceTrac in Spring Hill. All charges were made using different credit cards belonging to Ruge.

Detectives obtained surveillance video from Oak Hill Hospital. The video showed a male and female wandering in the hallway near Ruge’s office. Once the hallway was clear of patients and employees, the male entered Ruge’s office while the female remained in the hallway as a “lookout.” Moments later, the male exits Ruge’s office with something concealed under his shirt. The couple then exit the hospital. Detectives also obtained surveillance video from the local merchants where the credit cards were utilized. The video revealed the same male and female couple that appeared on the hospital video. An agency-wide bulletin was issued on the suspects which quickly resulted in a tip concerning the suspect’s identities.
 Thomas Paul Jones and Crystal Hovis were identified as possible suspects. www.hernandosheriff.org SHERIFF Al Nienhuis Images from surveillance video were presented to family, friends, and neighbors of the suspects, who positively identified the pair as Thomas Paul Jones and Crystal Hovis. When detectives attempted to contact Jones and Hovis at their home in Spring Hill, neither would respond to the door. Thomas’ Dodge van was in the driveway at the time and was identical to that of the vehicle driven by the suspects, also captured on video surveillance.
Warrants were acquired for both suspects. It is believed that following the issuance of the warrants, both suspects fled the state. On 11-04-15, Detective Chris Vascellaro was notified that both Jones and Hovis were located in Michigan. Both were arrested on the Hernando County warrants by the Michigan State Police. Jones and Hovis were charged as follows: Thomas Paul Jones W/M DOB/10-18-1970 - Principle to Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (2 counts) - Principle to Criminal Use of Personal Identification (2 counts) - Principle to Grand Theft - Petit Theft Crystal Mae Hovis W/F 08-14-1981 - Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (2 counts) - Criminal Use of Personal Identification (2 counts) - Grand Theft - Principle to Petit Theft. It should be noted that both individuals have additional warrants for unrelated cases. Both are currently awaiting extradition back to Hernando County.