Alleged thefts from USAA customer accounts results in arrest of 2 Louisana women

Two Louisiana women have been arrested in connection with the theft of more than $1 million from USAA customers. Investigators in Shreveport said one of the women used her position at Teleperformance — a multinational company that handles inbound calls from USAA members — to gain access to USAA customers’ bank account information. The woman, ZarRajah Watkins, allegedly sold the account information to Destane Glass and others who used various tactics to pilfer account holders’ money, the Shreveport Police Department said last week. Also last week, USAA reported a data breach incident it said occurred Oct. 24. The San Antonio insurer and financial services company said it was unrelated to the Louisiana case.

In Shreveport, police said, Glass used USAA customers’ money to buy a home, expensive cars and other lavish items. She paid cash in October for a home that had been listed for $639,000, according to a report by KTBS-TV in Shreveport. On Nov. 22, she was charged with 65 counts of identity theft. Court records show Glass previously had been arrested in Caddo Parish on nine counts of misdemeanor theft and two counts of felony theft, the television station reported. She pleaded guilty to one charge of felony theft in March, received a suspended sentence and was placed on probation. Watkins was charged with 175 counts of identity theft after she was taken into custody Nov. 17. The women, both 21, are being held at the Caddo Correctional Center. The Caddo-Shreveport Financial Crimes Task Force investigators began a probe into the alleged scheme in September. More arrests are expected.