Former Mrs. America Guilty Of Price Tag Fraud In Twin Cities

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A jury took less than three hours to find former Mrs. America Jennifer Kline guilty of theft by swindle for switching price tags on clothes she purchased from Macy’s. The jury found Kline, 51, of Wayzata, Minnesota guilty of the single felony count of theft by swindle Tuesday afternoon.

The jury determined that the amount of the theft was more than $1,000 but less than $5,000. Sentencing was set for Oct. 18.

Kline was crowned Mrs. America in 1989 and also was a television host on ShopNBC/Evine Live. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Minnesota Patch, click here to find your local Minnesota Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

“This little scheme of Ms. Kline’s was wrong and it was clearly driven by greed. The jurors were not fooled by attempts to blame Macy’s and their liberal return policy for her criminal conduct,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement.

The scheme, as outlined in the criminal complaint and during the seven-day trial, involved Kline buying numerous expensive items of clothing at the Southdale Macy’s. She would take them home and then take the price tags from the new clothes and attach them to other clothing she already owned.

She would then return the clothes with the altered price tags to the Mall of America Macy’s for a large refund on her credit card, authorities said.

Kline admitted she had a supply of plastic tag holders and other equipment to attach the price tags to other clothing items, according to a news release.

Kline’s attorney argued to the jury that Kline made a dumb mistake but that it was Macy’s fault for having such an easy return policy.

Image via Hennepin County Attorney's Office