Today, it seems there are almost daily reports about some corporation or financial institution being hacked. From Minneapolis' own Target Corp. to JPMorgan and Home Depot, hackers are taking aim at U.S. corporations and making off with sensitive data including the...
White Collar Crimes
Washington politicians show support for legitimizing medical marijuana industry
To date, a total of 23 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation making the medicinal use of marijuana legal. While each state has specific laws and restrictions related to the sanctioned use of medical marijuana, all have regulations related to who...
Police must obtain warrant prior to cellphone search
An estimated 90 percent of U.S. residents own a cellphone. While early cellphone models only allowed users to communicate by calling another individual, today's cellphones serve many more purposes. Today's cellphones allow users to take and store pictures, communicate...
Seven Minneapolis-area residents indicted on federal fraud charges
Within the last decade, reports of and stories related to identity theft have become common. Today, law enforcement investigators have developed sophisticated means of identifying and tracking the actions of individuals believed to be involved in identity theft and...
Judge defends sentence as prosecutors pursue its appeal
In criminal trials that end in a jury returning a guilty verdict, the judge presiding over the case has digression when handing down a sentence. Even in cases where an individual is found guilty, a judge often takes a number of factors into consideration when...
‘Lost’ ring leads to insurance fraud charge for Woodbury man
A Woodbury man who proposed to his fiancé this year with a diamond ring is being accused of lying to an insurance company in order to collect money on jewelry that was never really lost. In addition to the alleged insurance fraud, authorities also had reason to...
Extensive prison term for Twin Cities identity theft ringleader
A 42-year-old Twin Cities man, known as being one of the ringleaders of a multi-state identity theft ring, was recently sentenced to serve 25 years in prison. It should be noted that while there were more than 100 people involved in this case, six of these so-called...
Lumberjack Days promoter facing 10 felony charges
Saying the promoter of Stillwater's Lumberjack Days may be guilty of bad business decisions, but not of attempting to defraud creditors, an attorney for the promoter is asking for the criminal charges against the man to be dismissed. His attorney maintains that his...
Authorities accuse St. Paul man of trying to defraud Geico
A 33-year-old St. Paul man was charged on Monday with one count of insurance fraud. Even though it is just one white collar crime-related count, if he is found guilty he could end up spending up to 20 years in prison. According to the criminal complaint against the...
Minnesota man accepts plea deal in car restoration fraud case
In order to secure a conviction, criminal prosecutors might be willing to offer a plea deal to defendants. Generally speaking, a plea bargain affords a person reduced charges or a lighter sentence in exchange for admitting guilt in court. This may seem like a positive...