Star Tribune
Bank teller machine scam netted more than $400,000
Four people stole more than a quarter of a million dollars through a scheme that involved depositing phony checks and making cash withdrawals at teller machines in the Twin Cities, according to a newly unsealed indictment.
A federal judge on Monday unsealed an indictment that included allegations of conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft after one of the defendants — Cornelius Anthony McDade— was arrested in Wisconsin. Three others have yet to be apprehended and their names were redacted from the charging document made public this week.
Prosecutors allege that McDade, 32, of Minneapolis, and the others focused on interactive teller machines at the Edina, St. Paul and Maple Grove branches of Wings Financial Credit Union during a scheme that spanned from Nov. 2021 through March 2022 in Minnesota “and elsewhere.” They deposited more than 150 fraudulent or forged checks at Wings and used the deposits to illegally take out about $272,545 in cash, according to charges, and deployed similar tactics to take out another $150,000 from other financial institutions, including Affinity Plus Credit Union and Huntington Bank.
McDade and the others are accused of fraudulently gaining access to bank accounts, debit cards and checkbooks of numerous people at Wings and other financial institutions. The charges say they recruited people on social media to open new bank accounts at the institutions to carry out the scheme and also stole debit cards and checkbooks from other people in the Twin Cities area.
The alleged plot relied on opening bank accounts to deposit forged or fraudulent checks at the teller machines — also referred to as XTMs — at Wings, immediately withdrawing and stealing cash from the accounts. This led to negative account balances after the checks did not clear.
McDade did not have an attorney listed for him as of Tuesday afternoon. A spokesperson for Wings Financial Credit Union declined to comment, citing a company policy not to comment on pending litigation.
McDade and three others were indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 19. Following McDade’s arrest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Kline asked a judge Monday to unseal a redacted indictment because “the government no longer has flight and destruction of evidence concerns.”
Similar to ATM machines, XTM machines let customers deposit checks and withdraw cash immediately without waiting for the check to clear. Customers can also use the machines to withdraw larger amounts of cash than would normally be allowed at an ATM. According to the indictment, Wings customers can use XTM machines after their accounts have been open for 30 days and Wings caps transactions at $5,000 in deposits per day and $2,000 cash back per transaction. The credit union placed a hold on accounts that reached the $5,000 limit.
A new federal lawsuit alleges that a Woodbury man sustained a traumatic brain injury after being shot with a rubber bullet by Minneapolis police while peacefully protesting the killing of George Floyd outside the Third Precinct in 2020.
The ordeal left Mason Hermann, of Woodbury, with short-term memory loss, headaches and fatigue, the lawsuit contends.
Attorney Jeff Storms filed the 29-page lawsuit in court last week. It seeks unspecified damages from the city of Minneapolis for violating Hermann’s First Amendment rights.
Minneapolis has paid nearly $50 million to settle claims of police brutality or officer misconduct since Floyd’s murder. Many hefty payouts went to journalists and bystanders injured by law enforcement officials during the unrest, actions that have since been described as a pattern of unconstitutional behavior by the U.S. Department of Justice.
City spokesman Allen Henry acknowledged that the city has been served with the lawsuit, but declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Hermann, then 20, joined a growing crowd of protesters on Lake Street on May 27, 2020, to criticize MPD’s actions. No curfew restrictions were in place at that time.
Officers in tactical gear were perched on the Third Precinct’s roof and outside its barricaded entrance for hours, where some armed with 40-mm “less lethal” rounds fired upon the crowd. At approximately 6:50 p.m., according to the lawsuit, a rubber bullet struck the left side of Hermann’s head, without warning or provocation. No commands were given prior to that use of force.
The unidentified officer “shot Hermann with the projectile in retaliation for and to chill Hermann’s further speech,” the lawsuit says, adding that Hermann “never displayed any aggression” toward police.
The St. Paul nonprofit drew from successes in the Chicago area, including a Living Room in suburban La Grange, Ill., where operators reported that they prevented 218 ER visits in their first year. That saved an estimated $550,000 for the state of Illinois because many of the visitors otherwise would have used state-funded Medicaid insurance for ER visits.
But Vance has been doing debate prep sessions where he’s been joined by his wife, Usha Vance, Miller, senior Vance aides, and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who has played Walz, according to a person familiar with his preparations who requested anonymity to discuss strategy. Moderating their mock debates was Monica Crowley, who served in the Trump administration, hosts a podcast and contributed to Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for remaking government that Trump claims he knows ” nothing about.”
”JD Vance is prepared to wipe the floor with Tim Walz and expose him for the radical liberal he is,” Emmer told reporters on Monday.
Walz’s debate prep has included sessions hunkered down in a Minneapolis hotel, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg standing in for Vance, according to a person familiar with the process who requested anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal dynamics. Others helping in the preparations include Rob Friedlander and Zayn Siddique, who helped Harris prepare for her debate with Trump, along with other aides to Walz and the campaign.
Klobuchar said Walz will show the American people ”a real person” who brings ”buoyancy” and positivity to the debate stage that will contrast with Vance, but ”he is not going to be shy about pointing out the problems.”
”Just because he’s an optimistic, positive person doesn’t mean he’s a pushover,” she said.
