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Caseworker charged with stealing gift
card intended for child
February 01, 2007
By Katie Humphrey -
American Statesman
A state Child Protective Services
caseworker is accused of stealing a $200 gift card that was intended
as a Christmas present for a child in protective custody.
Leslie Alexandra St. Aubin, 45, was
arrested Monday and charged with two counts of felony credit card
abuse and one misdemeanor count of theft by a public servant.
 Leslie
St. Aubin State employee oversees progress of children state
custody.
According to court documents,
police discovered that St. Aubin had used the Target gift card as
they were investigating a report of credit card abuse at the Target
and Wal-Mart stores in Georgetown on Dec. 19. Police determined that
Georgetown attorney Sara Naylor had intended for the gift card to be
anonymously donated to a child who was in the state's care as a
Christmas gift.
St. Aubin had told Naylor that the
child received the gift card and used it to purchase music CDs, but
the child told Naylor that he had never received it, according to
the documents.
In court documents, police say St.
Aubin used a stolen credit card to buy food and household goods at a
Wal-Mart and clothing at Target. The card's owner had mistakenly
left it in a card reader at the Target store, the documents said.
The gift card was used in the same
transaction as a stolen credit card, the documents said.
St. Aubin could not be reached for
comment Wednesday.
Public records show that St. Aubin
was arrested in March 2005 and charged with theft by check. She
pleaded no contest to issuance of a bad check, a Class C misdemeanor
offense, in July 2005 and was ordered to pay a $25 fine and court
costs.
St. Aubin has been employed by the
Department of Family and Protective Services as a CPS caseworker
since November 2005, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the
department.
She received about three months of
training before starting work as a caseworker who monitors
children's progress once they are in state custody in Williamson
County, Van Deusen said.
There are 10 such caseworkers,
including St. Aubin, in Williamson County, with an average of about
52 cases each, he said.
All department employees must pass
a criminal background check before they are hired, Van Deusen said.
The department is working with law enforcement to investigate the
allegations, he said.
"We want to determine exactly what
happened," Van Deusen said. "There hasn't been any disciplinary
action yet, but that's certainly a possibility. "
St. Aubin was also being held in
connection with a misdemeanor theft by check case in Travis County.
She remained in the Williamson County Jail on Wednesday, with bail
set at $36,000.
khumphrey@statesman .com; 246-0053
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