Richfield Woman Stole Money From Stressed, Grieving Family: Cops

RICHFIELD, MN — A Richfield woman has been charged with stealing money from a GoFundMe that was set up for a family who suffered a personal loss, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Thursday. Kimberly Ann Freese, 49, was charged with one count of theft.

She will make her first appearance Thursday afternoon.

According to the criminal complaint, on Dec. 18, officers responded to a home in Richfield regarding a report of fraud. Officers were told that a family had suffered a death on Nov. 15 and had incurred thousands of dollars in related expenses.

Within 24-hours after the death, Freese, an acquaintance of the family, contacted the victim via text message and offered to establish a fundraising campaign on the website GoFundMe.com to raise funds to help him.

GoFundMe allows an individual to set up a campaign on behalf of a beneficiary.

A family member reported that when Freese offered to start the fundraising campaign, she stated she would set it up and turn the “account” over to him when he was ready, police said. Freese asked the victim for permission to advertise the news of the family’s financial need on his social media and he agreed.

When Freese set up the GoFundMe page, she chose to have the funds dispersed directly to her own bank account. According to the complaint, the campaign raised $2,645 from 34 individuals who made donations, believing they were going to the family.

On Nov. 20, the family member texted Freese and asked if he could obtain the funds for pressing expenses. Freese told him it would take 5-7 days to get the money.

On Nov. 29, at 2 a.m., GoFundMe transferred $2,245 to Freese’s bank account, the amount available after processing fees were deducted. The victim requested the funds several more times and then learned on Dec. 4 from GoFundMe that Freese had received the money directly. Freese claimed it wasn’t available to her yet.

From Dec. 7 – 13, the victim repeatedly asked Freese for the money and told her that his family was stressed about their expenses, according to police. He also told Freese that GoFundMe had recommended reporting her to the police for failing to give them the money. She asked him not to, but did not give him the money, authorities said.

The Richfield Police Department began investigating and on Jan. 17, Freese admitted that she had received the funds, but no longer had them. She claimed they went to a "court thing," but was planning to make an arrangement with the victim to pay him.

The complaint states that Freese’s bank records show the deposit made from GoFundMe on Nov. 30 and in the following weeks, there were approximately 50 purchases from Amazon, iTunes, pizza deliveries and other places. On December 21, Freese’s account balance was $8.75.

As of March 15, Freese had not made any payment to the victim, nor attempted to arrangement payment, police said.

GoFundMe sent Patch the following statement regarding the case:

"Misuse is very rare on our platform. Campaigns with misuse make up less than one tenth of one percent of all campaigns. Additionally, it's important to remember that our platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means that in the rare case that GoFundMe, law enforcement or a user finds campaigns are misused, donors are fully protected and will get refunded. And if a campaign organizer does not deliver funds to the intended recipient, GoFundMe will donate the undelivered amount to the right person."

GoFundMe said it donated $2,425 to the intended beneficiary in this case and is working with law enforcement on their investigation.

Image via Shutterstock