Woman followed from bank, targeted by career criminal, police say

HOUSTON – A trip to the bank to cash a check ended with a violent attack on a woman sitting in her car.

The suspect is a career criminal who has been in and out of jail multiple times, police said.

Meliza Martinez said she never wants anyone else to go through what she went through.

"I wouldn't want anyone else to experience it," she said.

Police said the incident started at a Bank of America.

Martinez said she was being followed.

"I went on an errand for work," Martinez said. "As I was getting in the car, I saw a dark maroon BMW park beside me and it had really dark tinted windows and that, to me, was suspicious."

Martinez was cashing a petty cash check at the Bank of America on Westheimer Road. The check was for less than $100.

She went on her way to Walmart feeling nervous.

"I looked back and I see the car is following me," Martinez said.

So she parked and waited.

"They drove off to try to make it look like they were leaving and then they came back around, and I just kept looking in my mirror so when they came back I said, 'OK, these guys are up to something,'" Martinez recalled.

They left and came back three times. She called 911, and moments later, her window was smashed.

"As I watched him reach in and grab my purse, I just kind of instinctually reacted and grabbed it back," she said.

He took the money.

Police said the man she faced was 30-year-old Alton Brown, a man with a lengthy rap sheet. He has multiple arrests, as recently as October, for this same type of crime.

Brown is a classic example of the revolving door in the Harris County justice system, an issue Channel 2 Investigates has been following for months.

Law enforcement officials are fed up. Joe Gamaldi, the President Elect of the Houston Police Officers Union (HPOU) said for this October incident, Brown posted a mere $150 to bond out.

"Is that going to guarantee his next appearance in court? Absolutely not," said Gamaldi. "And just to speak to Brown's character -- after he got out just the other day, he's stalking another victim. Once again he's arrested, in possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony -- and his previous bond does not even get revoked. No reasonable person thinks it's acceptable to be out on bond -- commit another felony and then not have that previous bond revoked."

Martinez said it's not right.

"If you commit a crime you shouldn't be let out and keep doing it," she said.

The District Attorney's Office told KPRC that Brown's bond has been revoked as of Thursday. Brown is currently in jail for theft and drug possession.

Martinez said she hopes she never sees Brown on the streets again.