Minn. Woman Sentenced for Stealing From 30 Credit Unions in 8 States

A Minnesota woman, who worked at a company that processed loans and exploited that knowledge of the financial system to steal funds from 30 credit unions and dozens of members in eight states, which led to more than $460,000 in losses, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Iowa’s Northern District in Cedar Rapids said Monday.

Maegen Catherine Fortin, 40, from Otsego, Minn., pleaded guilty last September to one felony count of financial institution fraud and one felony count of aggravated identity theft.

From March 2020 to September 2021, she traveled to 30 credit unions and four businesses in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to conduct fraudulent financial transactions, which took the form of check fraud, fraudulent bank accounts and loan applications, and fraudulent credit and debit charges. These transactions likely numbered in the thousands, according to court documents.

Federal prosecutors said Fortin caused more than $460,000 in losses and she attempted to steal at least $651,683.

She possessed stolen mail containing personal and account information, fraudulent printed checks, paper for printing forged checks, and a stolen rubber stamp from the Minnesota DMV.    Fortin used or possessed personally identifying information (PPI) of approximately 91 people in connection with her 18 months-long financial fraud scheme. She used the PPI information to create fake military IDs, United States passports, state IDs and employment documents.

The documents contained authentication features to lend legitimacy to the fraudulent IDs and to deceive credit unions. What’s more, prosecutors said Fortin’s mother, who was not charged with any wrongdoing, reported that her daughter had multiple high-end printers that she used to make phony military IDs.

One person whose personal information Fortin possessed during her scheme reported that she had worked for a company that processed loans and that she had access to his information through that position, court documents showed.

“Defendant exploited her knowledge of the financial system to defraud the many victims in this case. In addition, defendant’s criminal history shows a pattern of theft and financial fraud offenses,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.

Of Fortin’s 13 previous convictions, eight were for theft-related offenses.

“Had she not been detained, based on the multiple interactions she had with law enforcement officers during the fraud period, she likely would have continued to engage in further fraud,” prosecutors said.

U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams in Cedar Rapids ordered Fortin to make $463,774 in restitution to the credit unions and businesses. The amount of restitution owed to each of the 30 credit unions was filed under seal by Judge Williams.

Fortin also must also serve five years of supervised release following her 93-month prison term.

She is being held in custody until she can be transported to a federal prison.