Woman accused of committing more than 2 dozen thefts
May 30—A convicted felon with 10 pending cases was arrested Thursday in connection with 21 felony theft cases.
According to police and court documents, Sandra Dee Allen, who also goes by Sandra Dee Hudson, 55, is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of items from a handful of stores since last fall.
Texas Department of Public Safety records show Allen, 55, has been arrested numerous times on theft, burglary, trespassing, stolen car and assault charges and served multiple stints in prison.
According to Ector County District Court records, Allen was charged with criminally trespassing at the Music City Mall in November 2021 and February 2022. She was released from the Ector County jail each time after posting a $500 surety bond.
Allen was arrested and later indicted for burglarizing a Quick Track store March 2022 and was released from the Ector County jail after posting $14,000 in surety bonds.
Six months later she was indicted for allegedly stealing clothes and bath sheets from Walmart, court documents show. Two months after that, in January 2023, Allen was indicted for allegedly stealing plants, cigarettes and cleaning supplies over the course of four days from an HEB, DK and Kent Kwik.
Warrants were issued after those indictments, but were never served and on May 8, Allen was indicted in 10 separate cases alleging she stole food, purses, cosmetics, electronics and tools from HEB, EZ Pawn and Home Depot on 10 separate dates from November 19 through April 2.
On May 17 and May 19, Odessa police also asked for arrest warrants to be issued for Allen in five other theft cases. According to OPD records, officers believe Allen walked into Best Buy on Jan. 3, Jan.5, Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 and walked out with shopping carts filled with items totaling $4735.69, $1195.97, $1358.07 and $699.98, respectively. They also alleged she walked out of the Lowe's Home Improvement store on April 6 with $998 worth of items.
On Thursday, Allen was arrested on failure to appear warrants in the Music City Mall and the Quick Track burglary cases, the warrants issued following the Nov. 28, Jan. 23 and May 8 indictments and the five arrest warrants issued May 17 and May 19.
Ector County jail records show Allen remains in custody on surety bonds totaling $341,500.
Ector County District Attorney Dusty Gallivan said it is his policy not to speak on specific cases. However, generally speaking, Gallivan said it is unusual for one defendant to have multiple pending cases and multiple outstanding warrants.
Again speaking generally, Gallivan said theft cases are often connected to drugs and alcohol.
"So either they were drunk when they did something or they were trying to get money to get their high on," Gallivan said.
