Austin woman facing several charges related to pull-tab scheme

15 charges brought in case, including eight for forgery

An Austin woman is facing several charges related to a pull-tab scheme at a local bar.

Shelley Marie Thompson, 53, is facing a total of 15 charges, 10 of which are felonies with three gross misdemeanors and two misdemeanors. Of the 10 felonies, eight are for aggravated forgery as well as one felony count for identity theft and one for gambling fraud.

Gross misdemeanors include one for gambling fraud and two for identity theft, while misdemeanors include one for identity theft and another for gambling-organization/employee/volunteer may not participate.

The charges were filed on Tuesday, June 16, in Mower County District Court. Thompson is scheduled for a first appearance on Aug. 5.

According to the court complaint, the Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGE) received a referral from the Gambling Control Board (GCB) on Dec. 20, 2023 regarding forged prize receipts that had been claimed at the B&J Bar in Austin.

The GCB reported that during a routine compliance review of the Austin Youth Hockey Association, a compliance specialist discovered that Thompson allegedly had stolen identities in order to forge gambling prize receipts to claim pull-tab prizes at the bar.

An investigator with the GCB was notified during the audit that three pull-tab prize receipts had been found with both the date and time torn off the receipt to the total amount of $450 with the same name on the receipt.

However, when the person was asked about it she was able to tell the investigator the name was not written by her, noting she didn’t spell certain letters the way they were written.

Then on March 5 of this year an agent with the AGE and the GCB investigator were able to confirm that Thompson had worked at the establishment, but had been fired in late October 2023.

It was also noted that since the firing, the pull-tab boxes were no longer short and that there was noticeably more cash in their games than before.

The complaint goes on to say that the AGE agent spoke to Thompson that same day and that she allegedly admitted to forging the name of the same person.

Thompson went on to say during a stretch of about six months she dealt with drinking and gambling issues and that she started gambling for no reason, acknowledging that what she did was wrong.

She also allegedly stated that she bought the pull-tabs she was playing and was not stealing from the bar.

After reviewing several pull-tab games, the GCB investigator determined that Thompson had allegedly stolen the identities of eight individuals to forge 24 prize receipts resulting in $4,611 in unlawfully claimed prize money.

On all of the prize receipts, Thompson was allegedly shown to be the seller and that in some cases receipts were shown to have been printed prior to the bar opening at 11 a.m.

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