Charges: Woman Stole Pull Tab Money From Burnsville Hockey Fundraiser
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 44-year-old Savage woman is accused of stealing more than $3,000 in pull tabs from a fundraiser with the Burnsville Hockey Club from January to April, according to charges filed in Dakota County Court.
Sarah Betn Misgen was charged with aggravated forgery and gambling place false info on invoice in connection with the case.
According to a criminal complaint, the Burnsville Hockey Club is a charity licensed through the Minnesota Gambling Control Board to sell pull tabs and conduct other gambling. The organization conducted pull tab sales at Juniors Sports Café in the Burnsville Town & Country Square among several locations. The gambling manager for the club reported a possible theft of pull tab tickets from their booth at the restaurant and. The manager indicated that from January to March this year, about $3,100 in pull tabs was unaccounted for in the daily operations accounting.
The complaint states the gambling manager noted that one of the sellers, Misgen, had closed out several games that were found to be short tickets. An employee also told the manager that Misgen and her significant other played pull tabs while off-duty and after hours at the restaurant, a violation of the hockey club's license.
According to the complaint, Misgen lost money on four straight Fridays that she had worked, which was unusual. She also had more handwritten prize receipts than any other seller. The pull tab booth has a digital machine that swipes a driver's license to generate a receipt for the winner and documents all payouts. Handwritten receipts are allowed if the machine is broken or a license swipe doesn't work.
The gambling manager turned over all pull tab game receipts for February and March, and an investigator determined handwritten receipts to be fraudulent. The identities of the prize winner were false, and the person didn't exist. Misgen signed her name on the receipts to be illegible, the complaint states. Officers did identify some winners on handwritten receipts, and the signatures on those receipts didn't match their driver's license records.
Officers contacted a few of the claimed prizewinners, who said their signatures were forged.
When asked, Misgen told authorities that some people may have given her fake driver's licenses. When she was told about $5,000 in fake receipts had her signature on them, she said, "Seriously? The only thig I ever did was sell pull tabs to employees at the end of the night," according to the complaint.
If convicted, Misgen faces up to 15 years in prison and $30,000 in fines.
