Latest news with #LisaD.Kirkpatrick
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Yahoo
Austin woman pleads guilty in Federal court to fraud that netted her $320K
Apr. 14—Woman schemed payments intended for deceased mother for 25 years An Austin woman has entered a plea of guilty to theft of government funds after over two decades of Social Security fraud. According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota, acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick announced that Mavious Redmond had conducted the fraud for 25 years resulting in $360,000 in payments that were intended for her mother. The fraud lasted from January 1999 to June of 2024. Redmond pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds in U.S. District Court before Judge Nancy E. Brasel on April 9. A sentencing hearing will take place at a later date. In the release it was related that according to court documents, Redmond, 54, carried out a scheme to collect her deceased mother's social security retirement benefits following her mother's death in January 1999. On multiple occasions, Redmond impersonated her deceased mother to keep her fraud scheme going with one example taking place on June 4, 2024, when Redmond personally visited the SSA office, posing as her mother, and submitted a fraudulent SS-5 Application for Social Security Form using her mother's name, date of birth, social security number, and forging her deceased mother's signature. Redmond visited the SSA office again on June 20, 2024, resubmitted her deceased mother's documentation and the form with the forged signature. This case is the result of an investigation by the Social Security Administration — Office of Inspector General.
CBS News
22-03-2025
- CBS News
11 charged in Twin Cities kidnapping and drug trafficking conspiracy, attorney says
Eleven people in a drug trafficking group linked to a Mexican cartel are facing charges in connection with a drug trafficking and kidnapping conspiracy in the Twin Cities, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. At least seven people are each charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Four of those seven people are charged with conspiracy to kidnap, and two of those seven people are charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, federal officials say. Charges against four other people are unknown. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota, citing an indictment, said the group conspired between July 2023 and January 2025 to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it. Leaders of the group arranged for large quantities of the drug to be delivered by mail and driven by cars and trucks from Mexico to the Twin Cities area. People in Minnesota would then break large quantities of methamphetamine into smaller quantities and sell it to customers throughout the Twin Cities metro, officials said. In January 2025, someone owed a DTO leader a "substantial amount of money," which they couldn't pay for. Four of the people charged lured the person who owed money to a location in St. Paul, Minnesota, kidnapped them, chained them to a pole and held them against their will, according to the attorney's office. "This case highlights the inherent danger that transnational drug cartels bring to our country," Kirkpatrick said.
CBS News
10-02-2025
- CBS News
Winona man sentenced to 27 years in prison for online sextortion scheme
MINNEAPOLIS — A 31-year-old Winona man will spend 27 years in prison for his role in an online sextortion scheme that targeted more than 60 girls, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. Valentin Silva Quintana was sentenced in federal court Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to one count each of production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography. Between April 2022 and June 2023, Quintana used Snapchat and Instagram to threaten and sexually exploit more than 60 girls, between the ages of 9 and 12 years old, in the U.S. and other countries, court documents said. Quintana knew most of the girls' ages and lied about his age and identity, often posing as a minor girl, according to the criminal complaint. He used images and videos of "youthful appearing girls" to make his communications seem more believable. He convinced the girls to send him a sexual photo or video by offering to be their friend or romantic partner, court documents said. In some cases, Quintana covertly recorded them engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Quintana then threatened to send the content to the girls' friends and family unless they produced more images and videos for him, court documents said. He will have 20 years of supervised release after his prison sentence.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
Willernie woman latest to be sentenced in $250 million Feeding our Future fraud
A Willernie woman has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for her role in the $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick announced on Friday. Sharon Denise Ross, 54, was sentenced to 43 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $2,434,360, according to acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. She also was ordered to forfeit all property purchased from her fraud proceeds, including her house in Willernie. She is the 17th defendant to plead guilty to federal charges relating to the fraud scheme since the FBI raided Feeding Our Future's St. Anthony offices early in 2022. Other charges against Ross were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Ross was one of 60 Minnesotans charged with defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's child nutrition programs during the pandemic, when regulations temporarily were loosened and a variety of businesses and nonprofits were allowed to help feed hungry kids while schools were closed. Federal prosecutors have called the the scheme the nation's largest coronavirus pandemic fraud, amounting to more than $250 million. On March 7, 2024, Ross was charged with 12 counts of wire fraud and money laundering for her part in the scheme defrauding the Federal Child Nutrition Program. On Jan. 10, she pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Court documents show she was the executive director of House of Refuge Twin Cities, a St. Paul-based nonprofit which she enrolled in the federal program. From September 2021 to February 2022, she claimed to be serving thousands of children each day at her nonprofit sites, saying she served nearly 900,000 meals. As a result of her fraudulent claim, she received $2.4 million in federal funds. She gave out hundreds of thousands of dollars to family members and used the rest of the money to 'fund her lifestyle, including to pay for vacations to Florida and Las Vegas, to purchase a suite at a Minnesota Timberwolves game, and to purchase her house in Willernie,' the U.S. Attorney's office said. Court documents say at the time she was also on probation for another fraud. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of the alleged ringleader of the scheme. Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding our Future, is one of 70 defendants charged in the overall case. Thirty of them have pleaded guilty to various charges. One defendant recently was sentenced to 17 1/2 years, the longest prison term handed down in the case so far. Crime & Public Safety | Ex-St. Paul officer sentenced for causing negligent fire at his family's restaurant Crime & Public Safety | Future unclear for animals at embattled Roseville aquarium chain after January sale thwarted Crime & Public Safety | Hugo man sentenced to prison for stealing more than $1.3M from Inver Grove Heights employer for trips, cars and a boat Crime & Public Safety | Minneapolis man sentenced after fentanyl pills found by St. Paul hotel housekeeper Crime & Public Safety | Attorney in St. Paul construction site death settlement: If rules were followed, 'Pete would still be here.'
