LUBBOCK, Texas — A Crosbyton woman, Vanessa Ann Upchurch, 36, accepted a plea deal for unauthorized transactions with an access device. In simple terms, she charged $1,746 on a Cash App using someone else’s debit card.
The deal was signed Tuesday and officially filed in court records Thursday.
Court records said Neal Zachary Martinez and another man found a debit card accidentally left behind at a Crosbyton convenience store in February 2021. Surveillance video showed Martinez using lottery tickets to hide the card as he stole it.
The owner of the card was later able to recognize Martinez as someone she knew for years in the video. And she noticed a charge on her bank statement was listed as “CASH APP QUEEN MART.” The owner immediately suspected Martinez’s sister, Upchurch, who is also known as “Queen Martinez,” according to court records.
“Upchurch admitted to investigators that her brother, Martinez, had stolen the debit card, brought it to her, and that she had assisted Martinez in stealing money.”
Investigators later found and talked to Martinez as well. He admitted he took the card even though the other man with him wanted him to give it back. Martinez took a plea deal and was sentenced in July to 36 months in prison.
If a judge approves her plea deal, Upchurch will be sentenced at a later date to no more than 15 years in prison.
