Cliff Buchan
News Editor

A Columbus woman who was allegedly involved in a series of fraud cases has been sentenced in Washington County District Court.

Susan Pauline Larson, 43, 17147 Dimaggio St., was handed a 19 month prison sentence for felony financial transaction card fraud with the time in prison stayed five years. She will be on probation for five years, as well.

Larson must serve 120 days in jail with credit for 90 days served, pay a $300 fine plus surcharge, and pay restitution. She must also complete victim/offender conference unless a probation officer decides it is unnecessary and successfully complete mental health programming.

She was sentenced on Nov. 14.

According to Forest Lake Police Department reports, Larson was accused of the fraudulent use of credit cards and checks which were used to buy merchandise. City police became involved when a farm in Scandia where Larson worked reported fraudulent charges made by the woman in Forest Lake.

Chief of Police Clark Quiring said the fraud investigation involved multiple counties where thefts were reported and fraudulent transactions followed.

All ends well

It took authorities nearly five hours to locate a Ham Lake woman with Alzheimer's disease who was missing in Forest Lake on Nov. 15, but all ended well.

Police were called to Wells Fargo, 208 S. Lake St. at 1:30 p.m. after the 76-year-old woman walked away from the bank. Quiring said the woman was at the bank with her daughter-in-law and wandered off after the two argued over the elderly woman’s bank account.

At 5:40 p.m., police from Forest Lake found the woman sitting in a van in the yard at her daughter-in-law’s home on 170th Lane NE where she lives. She told police she walked the 13 miles from Forest Lake to Ham Lake.

As darkness arrived on Nov. 15 and the woman had not been found, extra police were called in to search along with 20 Forest Lake Fire & Rescue searchers. A Minnesota State Patrol helicopter was also sent to Forest Lake.

Quiring said he is not positive if the woman actually walked the entire distance home or may have hitched a ride. Police have one public report of the woman walking west on West Broadway at Kettle River Blvd. at 2 p.m.

She did not require medical attention.

No family members were at home during the search for the elderly lady. She was discovered only when Chief Quiring and the daughter-in-law went to the home to check at around 5:30 p.m.

Drug arrest

A traffic stop in Forest Lake on Sunday has resulted in a drug arrest for city police. Officers pulled over Wesley A. Giddings, 20, of 1527 N. 87th Ave., Blaine, at 5:09 p.m.for a heavily tinted window.

After stopping the car, officers detected a strong odor of marijuana. Giddings was arrested and taken to the county jail on probable cause of a controlled substance crime, a weapons violation and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Quiring said police recovered 41 grams of marijuana, a small quantity of drug that tested positive for ecstasy, two glass pipes and brass knuckles.

A 16-year-old male passenger from Forest Lake was held at the city police station and released to his parents. He was not charged.

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