Court records link the same suspect to an aggravated robbery at the University of Houston credit union; total bond set at $6 million.
HOUSTON, TX — A man accused of following a check-cashing employee from a Baytown shopping center, abducting her and sexually assaulting her after a failed attempt to force a robbery has been arrested and charged, authorities said. Investigators also tied him to an aggravated robbery on the University of Houston campus carried out weeks later.
The cases, filed in separate jurisdictions but connected by surveillance video and court documents, identify the suspect as Jerome Ruben. He faces aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault charges in the City of South Houston and an aggravated robbery charge stemming from a holdup at the TDECU Credit Union on the UH campus. The allegations describe a late-night sequence that began Dec. 17 with a worker leaving the Ace Cash Express on Garth Road in Baytown and ended with a campus robbery that prompted a wider search. A judge set Ruben’s total bond at $6 million as the cases proceed.
According to court filings, the Baytown incident began after the woman finished her shift at the Ace Cash Express on Dec. 17 and drove away from the center. Surveillance cameras captured her SUV leaving the lot. Investigators said a vehicle followed her out and trailed her to an apartment complex in the City of South Houston. There, the suspect “forced his way into her SUV,” the documents state, and pointed a gun while ordering her to drive back toward the check-cashing business. When she could not access cash after hours, the paperwork says, the man moved her into the back of the SUV and assaulted her before abandoning the attempted theft. The victim called police, and detectives canvassed the route she had taken to collect additional video.
Detectives from the City of South Houston later obtained surveillance footage from nearby businesses and residences, including a sandwich shop and a neighbor’s camera, that showed vehicles matching the accounts gathered from the victim, investigators said. They compiled images and sought help tracking the suspect vehicle across city limits. The case record describes a photo lineup in which the victim identified Ruben. “Forced his way into her SUV” and “ordered her to drive” are phrases quoted in the charging document, which also notes two assaults in the vehicle. As the identification was being finalized and an arrest plan assembled, investigators in the separate campus robbery began to compare notes.
University of Houston police reported an aggravated robbery at the TDECU Credit Union in early January. In that case, the robber wore a full black covering and attempted to disguise his build and face, according to investigators’ summaries. Staff later told police the person spoke in a deep voice even as they tried to present as a woman. Campus officers worked with Houston police and other agencies to review security footage from the credit union and surrounding buildings. The timeline in court records shows Ruben was charged in the campus robbery two days after he was taken into custody in the South Houston case, bringing the parallel investigations under the same name.
Court officials said during an initial appearance that Ruben was on probation in an unrelated armed robbery case from December 2024, a factor the judge cited while considering bond. The court set bond totals across the new cases at $6 million. The dockets list counts of aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault. Prosecutors said the Baytown/South Houston charges stem from the Dec. 17 incident involving the check-cashing employee who was followed off Garth Road. They added that the campus robbery charge ties to the TDECU Credit Union holdup, which did not involve a reported injury but led to resource alerts as officers searched for the suspect and secured the area.
Authorities have not publicly released a detailed minute-by-minute account of the return drive toward the Baytown store, and police did not immediately provide the exact time the woman left work that night. Investigators said they are still working to recover additional footage from businesses along the route and to cross-check vehicle movements against license plate readers. The records describe multiple clips that helped establish the sequence and corroborate the victim’s account. In the campus case, the investigative file cites interior and exterior cameras and interviews with credit union employees who described the robber’s voice, clothing and movements before and after the holdup.
Ruben’s arrest followed coordination between Baytown police, the City of South Houston Police Department and UH police, each handling their portion of the case while sharing evidence. Detectives said the victim in the Dec. 17 incident provided a detailed statement soon after calling for help. Forensic evidence processing is underway, according to investigators’ notes. Police did not identify the victim by name and said they do not release identifying details in sexual assault cases. Officials said investigators will continue to seek tips and footage from motorists or residents whose cameras cover the route between Baytown and South Houston to fill any gaps in the timeline.
At the courthouse, a magistrate reviewed bond conditions that include no contact with the victim and limits on travel, standard terms when violent felony charges are filed. Prosecutors indicated they may present the South Houston case to a Harris County grand jury after additional interviews and lab submissions, a routine next step in major felony prosecutions. Defense counsel was not listed in the online docket Tuesday morning. The campus robbery case is proceeding on a separate track, with university police as the primary agency and Houston-area prosecutors handling the charge tied to the credit union.
Residents at the South Houston apartment complex told officers they noticed police canvassing and saw detectives reviewing doorbell video in the days after the Dec. 17 attack. Across town, students and staff at the University of Houston described a brief period of heavy police presence around the credit union after the robbery as officers secured entrances and checked adjacent buildings. A university spokesperson referred questions about the criminal case to police and prosecutors. In Baytown, employees at nearby shops along Garth Road said the Ace Cash Express typically closes in the evening and that vehicle traffic thins out quickly on weeknights, which investigators noted can make surveillance footage more useful when identifying individual cars.
Ruben remains in the Harris County Jail ahead of his next scheduled court appearance on Feb. 17. Investigators said they expect to file supplemental reports after lab returns and additional interviews. Prosecutors said more information about the charging documents will become public as the cases move through the docket. Authorities have not announced additional suspects and have not said whether they recovered the handgun described in the Dec. 17 account. Both cases remain open.
Author note: Last updated January 14, 2026.