Crime & Safety
Eden Prairie Fake Robberies Were Done For Temporary Visas: Cops
A woman stabbed four undocumented people to make it look as if the reported robberies were real, police said.
EDEN PRAIRIE, MN — An Eden Prairie woman has been charged with one count of theft by swindle in connection with multiple falsified armed robbery reports, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.
Police said Yuridia Hernandez Linares, 36, concocted a plan in which, for $2,000, she could get for four undocumented persons "U visas" by faking armed robberies.
Linares used a box cutter to stab the people involved to make it appear that real armed robberies occurred before the fake incidents were reported to police, according to the criminal complaint.
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The robberies were reported to have taken place on Aug. 20 and Aug. 30.
The "U visas" are given to undocumented people who cooperate with police or prosecutors as a victim or witness to a crime. It provides them with temporary protection from deportation.
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The felony charge against Linares carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and $20,000.
Read the criminal complaint below:
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