Alleged felon caught in Dallas, 11 News plays role in arrest
01:46 PM CST on Sunday, March 6, 2005
By Jeff McShan / 11 News

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A woman who has been playing a game of catch me if you can with local law firms, allegedly fleecing the very people she worked for, has been caught with an assist from 11 News.

HPD said Tamera Montgomery worked for at least eight different attorneys while in Houston and stole from them all.
In a tall high-rise building in downtown Dallas, a woman wanted by Houston police was handcuffed and taken to a patrol car Friday.

Tamera Montgomery was soon to be brought back to Harris County to face several charges including felony theft.

HPD said the paralegal worked for at least eight different attorneys while in Houston and stole from them all. She had been on the run ever since.

"I received several phone calls from a lot of attorneys, different people that knew her. I had hotels calling saying, 'hey, she stayed here for a month.' All the leads just kept fizzling out and I really didn't get a really good lead until you [11 News reporter Jeff McShan] called me the other day and said he, 'someone hit me up on the Internet'," said Officer Rick Anderson, HPD burglary and theft division.

That someone was Shawn Sutherland, a legal assistant for a law firm in Dallas who worked with Montgomery.

At his desk he decided to enter her name on Google.com. Why?

"Certain things just didn't add up," Sutherland said. "I mean she took a job and then worked a week, and then was sick a week, and then came back and then just quit abruptly. It was just a vibe."

A good vibe.

On the Internet he found an 11 News story with Montgomery's picture and news that there was a warrant out for her arrest.

He called 11 News and police.

"I feel bad for her in a way because her life is so messed up, but it definitely made for an exciting Friday afternoon," said Sutherland.

Sutherland said Montgomery didn't take anything from them, but one firm in Houston said she stole $25,000 worth of jewelry, which was being held in an estate case.

Montgomery told police Friday she sold the jewelry to a store in the Village. Employees said she came in crying claiming the jewels belonged to her ex-husband.

HPD was expected to recover the jewelry for that particular law firm. Montgomery is expected back in Houston early this week.