Police: Woman Stole $80K From Nonprofit For Amazon Purchases, Taylor Swift Tickets
BURNSVILLE, Minn. (WCCO) -- The finance director of Burnsville, Minnesota nonprofit Dakota Child and Family Clinic (DCFC) is accused of swindling thousands of dollars out of the organization beginning in 2016.
Alia Pranke, 44, is charged with three felony counts of theft by swindle after authorities say she got away with spending nearly $80,000 of the DCFC's money on items for her personal use, including Amazon purchases and Taylor Swift concert tickets.
Police were tipped off when an employee reported seeing a bank statement from the clinic with charges for the Taylor Swift tickets. An employee also reported seeing various deposit and withdrawal slips for clinic accounts in Pranke's car.
Upon further investigation, police found Pranke had also written herself unauthorized checks, under-reported her income on her W-2s and had doubled her salary and hours in the payroll system.
In a statement, DCFC Executive Director Miranda Noll wrote:
"We are a small organization, and this situation has been personally devastating to us. DCFC's commitment to providing high quality health care services continues. We are grateful for the support from our community and look forward to continue providing high quality, cost effective health care services to patients and families, regardless of ability to pay. We appreciate the hard work of the Burnsville Police Department and Dakota County Attorney's Office and will continue to work with the authorities to bring this situation to a close."
Pranke is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 15.
