HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Police in two Houston-area cities say they have linked the same man to two violent crimes committed weeks apart, including a kidnapping and sexual assault in the City of South Houston and an aggravated robbery on the University of Houston campus.
Jerome Ruben is now facing a long list of charges: aggravated robbery, sexual assault, and kidnapping in the City of South Houston, along with a separate aggravated robbery charge connected to the TDECU Credit Union at UH. His total bond across all cases has been set at $6 million.
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According to court records, the first incident happened on Dec. 17. A female employee leaving the Ace Cash Express on Garth Road in Baytown told police she noticed a vehicle following her as she drove away from work. Surveillance video captured her SUV leaving the shopping center.
Investigators said Ruben followed the woman all the way to an apartment complex in the City of South Houston. There, he allegedly pulled a gun, forced his way into her SUV, and ordered her to drive back to the check-cashing business, where video from the store shows her vehicle returning.
When the woman was unable to access cash, Ruben allegedly forced her into the back of her SUV and raped her. Court documents state he assaulted her twice before abandoning his attempt to obtain money. The victim immediately contacted the police.
City of South Houston investigators later gathered surveillance footage from a nearby sandwich shop and a neighbor’s home. That evidence helped them identify Ruben, and the victim later picked him out of a photo lineup.
As City of South Houston police were preparing to arrest Ruben in the Baytown case, investigators say he committed another violent crime, this time on the University of Houston campus.
UH police allege Ruben robbed the TDECU Credit Union in an aggravated robbery.
Sources told ABC13 that Ruben was dressed in a full black hijab and wore fake breasts during the theft, trying to disguise himself as a woman. However, sources said that credit union workers described him as speaking in a deep voice.
He was charged in that case just two days after being taken into custody for the City of South Houston attack.
During his initial court appearance, a judge noted that Ruben was already on probation for a separate armed robbery case from December 2024.
Ruben is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 17.
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