State: Hundreds of Minn. businesses could be victims of fraud allegedly run by ex-state worker

Ex-Minn. state worker involved in fraud probe

ST. PAUL, Minn. — State investigators are trying to determine the scope of a check fraud scheme that they say could count hundreds of Minnesota businesses among its victims.

The 45-year-old woman at the center of the investigation is a former employee of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, they said. She was arrested in November but has not been charged. She is not in custody and no longer works for the state.

Authorities said victims could include businesses that sent a check to the Department of Labor and Industry between Jan. 1 and Nov. 18 last year to pay fines imposed by the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration Compliance Unit. A total of 759 businesses paid fines during that time frame.

On Tuesday, officials with the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force notified those businesses, asking them to examine their accounts and look for suspicious activity.

According to officials with the task force and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the woman made copies of some checking account numbers while she was at work and used those numbers to create fraudulent checks.

She allegedly ran the scheme from the attic of her St. Paul home. According to a search warrant obtained by the Star Tribune, the scam was carried out at least 50 times. The suspects used a computer and printer to make fake checks on “legitimate checking stock,” it said.

The woman’s husband then took the phony checks to stores and recruited others to cash them inside and bring the money back to him, in return for a small fee, the warrant said.

The fake checks were each written for less than $1,000, authorities said.

Task force investigators said Tuesday they need the businesses to come forward because much of the evidence in the case was allegedly destroyed before they could collect it from the woman.