St. Paul Woman Charged With Writing Fraudulent Checks at Lakeville Store

A woman has been charged with felony identity theft for allegedly writing fraudulent checks at a Lakeville retailer late last year.

Alexandria Mary Pflepsen-Warnecke, 20, of St. Paul reportedly wrote two counterfeit checks totally more than $2,000 before a clerk stopped her from writing a third.

The felony charge is punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of between $3,000 and $10,000.

According to a Dakota County criminal complaint released last week:

Lakeville police were called to a store on Nov. 8, when an employee said a woman who reportedly wrote fraudulent checks the previous two days reportedly attempted to purchase an IPad with another bad check earlier that day. The woman fled the store at a brisk pace after her sale was refused.

The same woman reportedly had written a fraudulent check for $1,036.23 on Nov. 6 and a bad check of $1,052.87 the following day, the employee said. Each check reportedly was written on a different account, and the woman used a different driver’s license for identification each day.

Police contacted the owners of the checking accounts used in the purchases. Both people said they did not make the purchases. One of the women said she filed a police report in Oakdale because her checking account number was being used without her permission.

Police obtained a photo of the suspect from surveillance video and issued a tri-county alert to seek information. Another law enforcement agency told Lakeville police that the suspect reportedly appeared to resemble Pflepsen-Warnecke.

During an interview with Lakeville police, Pflepsen-Warnecke allegedly confessed to passing the bad checks.