Charges: Treasurer Stole Thousands From Dog Rescue
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 40-year-old Brooklyn Park woman has been summoned to court on charges that she stole money from a dog rescue group, over which she was treasurer.
Tanna Dee Halphen faces one count of theft, according to documents filed in Dakota County.
According to a criminal complaint, the secretary of the Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue, which has a bank account in Dakota County, told authorities in October of 2013 that she found discrepancies in Halphen's records.
The secretary said bank statements showed that Halphen had spent thousands of dollars on unapproved charges. These were made at auto repair shops, to Comcast, Yankee Candle and Dairy Queen.
According to the secretary, Halphen also admitted to taking $2,500 from the organization to care for her sick mother.
The dog rescue discovered the fraud, the complaint states, when activating new credit cards. When doing this, the rescue learned that more than $7,000 was missing from the account.
Organization officials said it was clear that Halphen was responsible because all the unapproved charges were made with her assigned debit card. The unapproved charges went back to February 2013.
The total loss to the dog rescue was more than $7,800, the complaint states.
If convicted, Halphen could face a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
