A Rosemount mother is accused of stealing more than $8,700 from a parent group organizing the upcoming senior party for Eastview High School.
Jill Lynn Fiedler, 38, has been charged in Dakota County District Court with one count of felony theft by temporary control for allegedly stealing money from the group from October 2016 through February.
The criminal complaint filed Wednesday alleges that Fiedler wrote checks to herself and made deposits to her PayPal account while volunteering as the treasurer for the group, which was formed to raise money for and organize the Apple Valley school’s senior party to be held next month.
“Financial crimes involving funds solicited to benefit youth activities are especially troubling,” Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in a statement.
According to the criminal complaint:
In March, members of the parent group told Apple Valley police that they discovered some unusual transactions involving the group’s bank account. They said Fiedler was the only one with access to the account.
Group members checked the bank account records and discovered several checks totaling nearly $3,800 that could not be accounted for and were not authorized by the group. There were also several debit card transactions totaling more than $4,900.
Prosecutors say Fiedler allegedly diverted $4,325 to her PayPal account for Pure Romance, which sells adult sex toys. At the time, Fiedler was working as an independent contractor for the business.
When Fiedler was interviewed by officers, she admitted to the transactions, according to the complaint. She said she made some of them to buy prize items for the party and that she owed the group about $7,000, but needed time to repay.
She could not explain a $414 AT&T purchase in January.
As of April 11, none of the money had been returned to the parent group, the complaint said.
Fiedler was charged by summons, and her first court appearance has been set for Aug. 7.
She could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A phone number found on her Pure Romance online page had been disconnected.
In July 2015, Fiedler was charged in Scott County with two counts of theft after prosecutors say she wrote 27 checks that were returned by American Express because they were not pre-authorized, according to a criminal complaint.
She wrote one of the bad checks, totaling more than $5,400, to Minnesota Harvest after renting the Jordan apple orchard for her wedding, the complaint said.
In October 2016, Fiedler pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of theft-false representation; a felony charge of theft by swindle was dismissed. She was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to do 80 hours of community service.