Welfare fraud

By Emily Welker / The Forum MOORHEAD – A Moorhead woman faces felony charges after allegedly defrauding government programs here out of nearly $20,000 in public assistance money, mostly from food stamps. Alyssha Marie Colton, 27, was charged Friday in Clay County District...

By David Channen Lake Minnetonka couple and supposed Scottish royalty Colin and Andrea Chisholm appeared in Hennepin County District Court on Thursday wearing the jail’s finest orange smocks, telling the judge they couldn’t afford to pay for an attorney to defend them...

By Erik Burgess / The Forum MOORHEAD – Many of those who cheat the welfare system in Clay County are avoiding the gavel, as county prosecutors here increasingly turn to methods of recouping money that don’t end in a criminal conviction. Social Services referred 71 welfare...

BY Sarah smith ssmith@parkrapidsenterprise.com Toni Carlstrom is seeing more cases of financial exploitation since the economy went sour years ago. The victims – vulnerable adults – make the cases particularly wrenching to deal with because the Hubbard County licensed social...

WILLMAR -- A Willmar couple was sentenced Wednesday to stayed prison time, 10 years of probation, 180 days in the county jail and 200 hours of community service for wrongfully obtaining public assistance. Jose Angel Vallejo, 41, and Mariana Luna Vallejo, 39, were ordered to pay at...

WILLMAR -- Jesus Elizabeth Vasquez, 32, of Willmar was sentenced to a year and a day of stayed prison time, 10 years of probation and 2,080 hours of community service work on felony charges of aggravated forgery and wrongfully obtaining assistance. As part of her sentence handed...