Stimulus Checks: Texas Couple Arrested After Found With Drugs, Stolen Checks

A Texas man and woman were arrested after the couple was accused of making fraudulent transactions [...]

A Texas man and woman were arrested after the couple was accused of making fraudulent transactions during their stay at a hotel in the Lone Star state. Dustin Whitman and Heidi Hubbard were caught with not only doing drugs but had stolen stimulus checks as well. Authorities received a call from an employee of a Holiday Inn in Cypress on Monday saying they had received a call from someone about the fraudulent charge to a credit card.

When deputies knocked on the couple's hotel door, authorities reported the two had identified as Maritza Aleman and Dustin Whitman, however, officers later found out the woman identified under a false name. "Further investigation revealed that the female provided a false name and was positively identified as Heidi Hubbard," Harris County Constable Precinct officer, Mark Herman, said in a news release according to News Week. As deputies investigated their area, they came across drugs including 44 grams of methamphetamine and 5 grams of Valium. Along with that, they noticed three stimulus checks that didn't belong to either one of them. "Heidi Hubbard and Dustin Whitman were arrested and booked into the Harris County jail, charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Distribute. Heidi Hubbard received an additional charge of Failure to Identify. Their bond and Court information have not been set at this time," Herman stated.

Stimulus checks, and now even tax returns, have been giving some U.S. citizens a headache recently. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, stimulus checks were sent out to qualifying individuals across the nation, but not without issues. Some reported they had not received a check just yet while several others had, and now some taxpayers are saying their tax return is taking a lot longer than usual. Usually, the IRS will send out a return within a 21 day period, however, for some it's been weeks past that time frame.

"While the IRS expects to issue more than nine out of 10 refunds in less than 21 days, it's possible a particular tax return may require additional review and a refund could take longer. Many different factors can affect the timing of a refund," the IRS stated. A number of factors have added into why delays are potentially happening but some are wondering if the stimulus checks are the blame for this year's delay. The IRS did say that while 90 percent have filed electronically, those who filed on paper will be delayed because they need the centers to re-open before they can process those.

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