State of Minnesota County of Hennepin State of Minnesota, vs. Plaintiff, JOY ALIYA DELONG DOB: 05/16/1954 10514 W BLOOMINGTON FREEWAY Bloomington, MN 55431 Defendant. District Court 4th Judicial District Prosecutor File No. 14A10884 Court File No. 27 CR 14 10734 COMPLAINT Summons The Complainant submits this complaint to the Court and states that there is probable cause to believe Defendant committed the following offense(s): COUNT I Charge: Theft by Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2), 609.52.3(5) Offense Date (on or about): 04/18/2011 Charge Description: That on or about April 18, 2011 to August 3, 2011, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, JOY ALIYA DELONG, obtained property or services, of a value in excess of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American Legion Post #435, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, device or other means. COUNT II Charge: Theft by Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2), 609.52.3(5) Offense Date (on or about): 08/05/2011 Charge Description: That on or about August 5, 2011 to November 22, 2011, in Hennepin County, Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American legion Post #425, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, device or other means. COUNT III Charge: Theft by Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2) 1
Offense Date (on or about): 11/22/2011 Charge Description: That on or about November 23, 2011 to March 14, 2012, in Hennepin County, Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American Legion Post #435, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, device or other means. COUNT IV Charge: Theft by Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2), 609.52.3(5) Offense Date (on or about): 03/14/2012 Charge Description: That on or about March 14, 2012 to July 18, 2012, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, JOY ALIYA DELONG, obtained property or services, of a value in excess of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American Legion Post #435, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, device or other means. COUNT V Charge: Theft By Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(a)(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2), 609.52.3(5) Offense Date (on or about): 10/24/2012 Charge Description: That on or about July 23, 2012 to November 7, 2012, in Hennepin County, Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American Legion Post #435, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, device or other means. COUNT VI Charge: Theft By Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(a)(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2), 609.52.3(5) Offense Date (on or about): 11/06/2012 Charge Description: That on or about November 7, 2012 to April 24, 2013, in Hennepin County, Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American Legion Post #435, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, 2
device or other means. COUNT VII Charge: Theft By Swindle Minnesota Statute: 609.52.2(a)(4), with reference to: 609.52.3(2), 609.52.3(5) Offense Date (on or about): 05/08/2013 Charge Description: That on or about May 8, 2013 to September 24, 2013, in Hennepin County, Dollars ($5,000.00), from victim American Legion Post #435, by swindling victim using artifice, trick, device or other means. 3
STATEMENT OF PROBABLE CAUSE Complainant has investigated the facts and circumstances of this offense and believes the following establishes probable cause: On or about September 11, 2013, Complainant received a request from the Minnesota Gambling Control Board (GCB) to investigate possible criminal activity involving the financial resources of the American Legion Post 435. American Legion Post 435, which is located in Richfield, Hennepin County, Minnesota, was brought to the GCB Compliance Review Group for filing inaccurate information with the Minnesota Department of Revenue, failing to maintain sufficient records to adequately reflect expenses, and failing to complete monthly bank reconciliation. A focused review by the GCB revealed evidence that multiple thefts of Legion funds had been committed by the Legion's bookkeeper, JOY ALIYA DELONG, date of birth 5/16/54, Defendant herein. The focused review by GCB was initiated in March of 2013. The GCB specialist assigned to conduct the review was Adam Fussy. Fussy requested that the Legion's gambling manager assist him in obtaining the financial records and other documents necessary for the review. Fussy was informed that Defendant Delong, the bookkeeper, had been directed to obtain the requested documents. Fussy made repeated requests, but received no response to those requests. On August 28, 2013, Fussy went to the American Legion and met with the Gambling and Assistant Gambling managers and Defendant DeLong. Defendant said that she had been the bookkeeper for the Legion for about 20 years. Fussy renewed his demand for bank records and Defendant provided him with some of the requested financial documents. The bank statements Defendant provided to him had been altered and were missing pages. On September 5, 2013, Fussy accompanied the Legion gambling manager and CEO to the bank to obtain unaltered documents. The unaltered documents revealed that several thousands of dollars from American Legion gambling and lottery accounts had been used to make credit card payments to Capital One, Citi Card, Bank of America, Discover, Credit One Bank, Applied Bank, American Express and Sprint, accounts that were not accounts of the American Legion, but later discovered to be Defendant Delong's. Defendant's signing authority and access to the accounts was terminated. Two days later, Defendant resigned her position as bookkeeper. Fussy's review was provided to Complainant for a criminal investigation. During the course of the investigation, Complainant met with the gambling managers of the Legion multiple times and obtained information about the operations of the Legion. Complainant learned that Defendant had worked at the Legion for as many as twenty years. Defendant also has her own business as a tax preparer. Defendant was in charge of all of the financial operations at the Legion regarding payroll, purchasing and financial accounting for the Legion's charitable gambling. Defendant was a parttime employee of the Legion, working a few hours a day. Defendant told them that the computer system at the Legion did not meet submission requirements for the Department of Revenue, so she would have to work on the Legion's financials at her own office, which is located in Bloomington, Hennepin County. They estimated that Defendant worked no more than 10 hours per week on Legion-related business and that she was paid $20.00/hour. In addition to obtaining and analyzing bank records for the Legion, Complainant also obtained payroll documents for the gambling employees, processed through ADP, a payroll vendor. The Legion began using ADP in August of 2010. Complainant observed that Defendant appeared to have been compensated for more than 10 hours a week. More concerning, however, was the fact that Defendant was authorizing that she, Defendant, receive separate payments through the payroll process for "Misc" and "reimbursement." In 2011, Defendant received $44,034.22 in "Misc," and $5,465.50 in "reimbursements." In 2012, Defendant received $53,041.76 in "Misc" and $2,702.82 in "reimbursements." In 2013 (through 4
September payroll), Defendant, using the payroll process, paid herself $22,055.35 in "MISC" and $1,678.48 in "reimbursements." Complainant learned that prior to 2010, the American Legion used a different payroll service, Paychex. Complainant obtained records from Paychex and learned that in 2009, Defendant had set up three different employee numbers for herself. During the first three quarters of 2009, Defendant paid herself $30/hour, when her hourly pay rate was $20/hour. In the fourth quarter, she paid herself $20/hour using that employee number. Defendant also used a third employee number and paid herself $10,705.25 in "MISC" pay. In the first part of 2010, Defendant, using the Paychex payroll vendor, paid herself at $20/hour under one employee number. Under another number, she gave herself $17,676.25 in "Misc" pay. American Legion staff also found that there was a recurring charge to "TIME" insurance on the business's accounts. Contact with "TIME" revealed that the payments were for an insurance policy for the Defendant, a benefit not authorized by and never given to Legion employees. The insurance premiums had been paid out of the gambling account, and then later, the lottery account. They also learned that the statements for the account were being sent to Defendant's home address, so Legion officials did not learn of the payments. The following sums were taken by Defendant to pay her insurance: $2,221.15 in 2010, $4,096.80 in 2011, $5,238.71 in 2012 and in 2013, $3,785.82. Complainant also obtained records that documented that Defendant was using Legion accounts to pay her cell phone and credit card bills. From January of 2009 to 2013, Defendant paid $9,976.80 from Legion gambling and lottery accounts to pay her T-mobile and Sprint cell phone bills for she and her family. Complainant discovered other unauthorized sums in the following totals paid by Defendant using the Legion's funds: $3,265.48 to Capitol One, $1,543.61 to American Express, $733.42 to Citi Bank, $445.24 to Discover, $597.13 to Applied Bank, $84.95 to Credit One Bank, $354.01 to Comcast, $883.29 to Bank of America. Records also revealed that on December 7, 2010, Defendant used funds in the gambling account to pay for a handicap parking violation that she received in Hennepin County. On October 24, 2013, Complainant interviewed Defendant at her residence in Bloomington, Minnesota. Complainant identified himself as a police officer and gave Defendant his card. Defendant invited him in and directed him to where she wanted to have the conversation, which was recorded. Defendant said that she had been the bookkeeper for the Legion for the past 11 or 12 years and also has about 1200 other clients as a tax preparer. Defendant said that the lottery part of the Legion's business was what screwed everything up, but could not articulate how the lottery business created the financial problems for the Legion. Defendant indicated that other people had access to the lottery money through deposits and keys. Complainant asked Defendant about the payments that she received through the payroll process. Defendant confirmed that she was the one who did payroll and she was the only one who called in payroll hours to ADP. Defendant estimated that she worked 18 to 21 hours a week and that her yearly pay would have been around $20,000. Complainant asked Defendant about the "MISC" and "reimbursement" payments that she received in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Defendant said that it was all for reimbursements for paper, envelopes, printer cartridges, rubber binders, and boxes. Defendant confirmed the figures of: $5,465 in 2011, $2700 in 2012 and in 2013 to September, $1678. Legion staff had told Complainant that no more than $200 would be spent on office supplies in a month and those expenses would be approved at monthly meetings. Complainant asked Defendant about the "MISC" category of her pay for those three years: $44,000 in 2011, $53,000 in 2012 and in 2013, $32,000. Defendant said "yeah I have to check those numbers." She had no other explanation for why she was paid those large sums for a $20,000 a year part-time position. Complainant also asked Defendant about the fact that she had attempted to hide the lottery account information from Fussy, which contained evidence of her use of the account to make payments on her 5
personal credit card bills. Defendant claimed that any error in the records was the fault of the bank and that she didn't look at the records before turning them in. Defendant was then confronted with the fact that she used Legion accounts to pay her personal credit cards and she claimed that the payments were for reimbursements for expenses, and on top of what she processed through ADP. Defendant also claimed that a former Legion manager authorized payments of her cell phone bill and that the payments for her family members' bills were a mistake. Defendant also tried to explain the "Time" insurance payments as being part of the payroll process and when pressed for an explanation, Defendant just said "that's just the way we did it." On November 7, 2013, Complainant met with Defendant, at her request, at her tax preparation office in Bloomington. Defendant had a few receipts for office supplies that she wished to show the officer. Defendant said that she spent approximately $5,000/year on supplies. Defendant was confronted with the fact that she had paid herself much more than that for "MISC" and "reimbursements." Defendant said that she had ordered her payroll records from ADP and Complainant said that as we were at her office, we could look at her W-2s there. Defendant said that she did not have them there. Defendant finally agreed that she was probably giving herself extra money and when asked how much said "I honestly can't tell you." On December 27, 2013, Complainant met with Defendant at her office at her request, after she had cancelled multiple meetings claiming illness. Defendant said that there might have been a reason behind the extra pay that she gave herself, but she didn't know what it was. Defendant said that some of the MISC pay could have been to pay her for her time, but save the Legion from having to pay social security taxes. When confronted with the fact that her payroll claims would have meant she was working over 40 hours a week, Defendant admitted that was not the case. Later on in the day, Defendant emailed Complainant and said she had done some soul-searching and wanted to meet with him again. On January 2, 2014, Complainant met with the Defendant at her request. Complainant recorded their conversation. Defendant admitted that she had overpaid herself. As an example, she paid herself over $53,000 in 2012 for about $9,000 of work she did for the Legion at her office. Defendant admitted that she overpaid herself in 2011 and 2013, as well for work done at her office. Defendant said that she was going to start paying the Legion back for the money she took. Defendant's use of her position as a bookkeeper to the American Legion to access the victim's financial accounts and manipulate the payroll process resulted in the following losses between April 18, 2011 and September 24, 2013: April 18, 2011 to August 3, 2011? $19,689.85 (21 transactions) August 5, 2011 to November 22, 2011 - $19,324.52 (19 transactions) November 23, 2011 to March 14, 2012 - $20,525.05 (29 transactions) March 14, 2012 to July 18, 2012 - $20,517.17 (44 transactions) July 23, 2012 to November 7, 2012 - $20,829.37 (35 transactions) November 7, 2012 to April 24, 2013 - $29,448.69 (51 transactions) May 8, 2013 to September 24, 2013 - $19,542.68 (43 transactions) The total amount Defendant stole from her employer, the American Legion Post 435, from June of 2009 through September of 2013 is $199,188.32. 6
SIGNATURES AND APPROVALS Complainant requests that Defendant, subject to bail or conditions of release, be: (1) arrested or that other lawful steps be taken to obtain Defendant's appearance in court; or (2) detained, if already in custody, pending further proceedings; and that said Defendant otherwise be dealt with according to law. Complainant Terry Kelley Electronically Signed: 4/16/2014 Special Agent 444 Cedar Street St Paul, MN Badge: 771 Subscribed and sworn to before the undersigned. Notary Public or Judicial Official Jon Anglin, Peace Officer License Number: 17589, Ramsey County, Minnesota. My license expires: 06/30/2016 Special Agent 444 Cedar Street St Paul, MN Electronically Signed: 4/16/2014 Being authorized to prosecute the offenses charged, I approve this complaint. Prosecuting Attorney Susan Crumb 300 S 6th St Minneapolis, MN 55487 (612) 348 5550 Electronically Signed: 4/15/2014 7
FINDING OF PROBABLE CAUSE From the above sworn facts, and any supporting affidavits or supplemental sworn testimony, I, the Issuing Officer, have determined that probable cause exists to support, subject to bail or conditions of release where applicable, Defendant s arrest or other lawful steps be taken to obtain Defendant s appearance in court, or Defendant s detention, if already in custody, pending further proceedings. Defendant is therefore charged with the above stated offense(s). X SUMMONS THEREFORE YOU, THE DEFENDANT, ARE SUMMONED to appear on, at AM/PM before the above-named court at 401 Fourth Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55415 to answer this complaint. IF YOU FAIL TO APPEAR in response to this SUMMONS, a WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST shall be issued. WARRANT To the Sheriff of the above named county; or other person authorized to execute this warrant: I order, in the name of the State of Minnesota, that the Defendant be apprehended and arrested without delay and brought promptly before the court (if in session), and if not, before a Judge or Judicial Officer of such court without unnecessary delay, and in any event not later than 36 hours after the arrest or as soon as such Judge or Judicial Officer is available to be dealt with according to law. Execute in MN Only Execute Nationwide Execute in Border States ORDER OF DETENTION Since the Defendant is already in custody, I order, subject to bail or conditions of release, that the Defendant continue to be detained pending further proceedings. Bail: $10,000.00 Conditions of Release: This complaint is issued by the undersigned Judge as of the following date: April 16, 2014. Judicial Officer John McShane Electronically Signed: 4/16/2014 Sworn testimony has been given before the Judicial Officer by the following witnesses: State of Minnesota vs. Plaintiff JOY ALIYA DELONG COUNTY OF HENNEPIN STATE OF MINNESOTA Defendant Clerk's Signature or File Stamp: RETURN OF SERVICE I hereby Certify and Return that I have served a copy of this Summons upon the Defendant herein named. Signature of Authorized Service Agent: 8