Roseville woman who swindled $600K from New Brighton employer spared prison

A self-admitted gambling addict was spared prison Tuesday for swindling more than from a New Brighton portable storage company while she was employed as its accounting specialist Ramsey County District Judge Sophia Vuelo stayed a nearly five-year prison term for Kylie Marie Larson and gave the -year-old a downward departure to state sentencing guidelines that includes a year in the workhouse and years of probation She must serve days in jail before being eligible for electronic home monitoring Kylie Marie Larson Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff s Office Larson was ordered to pay back the that she stole from her former employer Portable Storage of MN a family-run business that operates under the name Big Blue Box from late November to late March The charges say Larson used her position of trust at the business to employ an elaborate and sophisticated scheme for her personal monetary gain Through bank records charges say New Brighton police investigator Joe Pyka discovered Larson made nearly transactions a mix of ATM withdrawals and debit-card purchases at Running Aces Mystic Lake and Little Six casinos totaling just shy of She made nearly Amazon purchases spending more than on groceries alcohol home improvement supplies clothing electronics digital subscriptions luggage and sex toys among other items In March after reaching an agreement with the prosecution Larson pleaded guilty to one count each of theft by swindle and identity theft and faced a presumptive prison term She agreed to the restitution as part of the plea The prosecution which had agreed to dismiss other charges sought Vuelo for a five-year prison term with Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Thomas Madison noting Larson s past similar convictions in his argument against probation In while working for Big Blue Box Larson was put on probation in Dakota County for check forgery and theft by swindle for defrauding a previous employer Although Big Blue Box ran a background check on Larson before she was hired in the business did not catch the event because she had not yet been charged Larson s attorney Ryan Garry communicated the judge that Larson has been diagnosed with a severe gambling disorder and began outpatient healing and therapy the same month she was charged She attends therapy weekly and outpatient medication three times a week he mentioned Vuelo cited a number of factors in making her decision She commented Larson is particularly motivated to change if she was not in the past and that she s young enough to still turn her life around and truly be a positive contributing member of our society Larson has the ability and know-how and the intellect to earn a living the judge explained while ordering that percent of her monthly earnings go toward restitution Fired from previous job According to the -page criminal complaint Larson was hired by Portable Storage as an account specialist on Sept She passed a background check but the company did not speak with her former employer as part of the hiring process Less than a month earlier on Aug Larson was fired from her accountant job with Southview Senior Communities in Lilydale A review of Southview s finances indicated Larson wrote out eight fraudulent checks between February the same month she was hired and July totaling just over Once at Big Blue Box Larson had access to and regularly handled sensitive financial information through the company s bookkeeping application online bank accounts financial statements credit card and checks A co-worker indicated that Larson was an enthusiastic and well liked employee during largest part of her tenure with Portable Storage the complaint says But Larson had another secret starting in February when she was charged in Ramsey County District Court with obtaining unemployment benefits through false representation The criminal complaint says she received more than in unemployment benefits while working at Portable Storage spending at least at Mystic Lake Casino and over at Running Aces Larson s co-worker at Big Blue Box eventually stumbled upon the theft at the New Brighton company in October while working on company accounts The worker noticed in QuickBooks solution several discrepancies in payments to a vendor Arrow Towing out of Nebraska Larson had no explanation for the discrepancies despite being given until early February to come up with one After her arrest on the charges Larson reported she had a gambling addiction and had been trying to get help for a long time She cited difficulty with being a single mother and seeing her daughter s friends go on trips when she could not buy groceries At the end of the interview Larson noted I knew this day was going to come but I didn t know when Company had K insurance procedures One side of the courtroom gallery was full with employees of Big Blue Box Andrew Longbella chief financial officer read a prepared message on behalf of the company which was founded in by his uncle William Kirkpatrick Earlier prosecutor Madison had noted the company had an insurance initiative to cover employee theft in the amount of Outside of the monetary loss Longbella commented the major impact of the crime was that Kirkpatrick who served as CEO had to deal with the discovery of this theft and the impact to his company in the final months of his life At the same time the theft was discovered he reported Kirkpatrick s battle with melanoma took a turn for the worse and he died on July at age I watched as he painfully spent countless hours with me helping to deal with decisions and the expected impacts to our company he commented Precious time that was taken away from him and his family that he would not get back Related Articles Two people revealed dead during welfare check in St Croix County Charge DNA links St Paul man to rape at Maplewood motel Shooter gets -year prison term for killing St Paul man after Edina birthday dinner Blaine child care worker sentenced to days in jail for abusing children Woodbury representatives seek info on rug connected to house fire Longbella explained Larson has a fruitful children s birthday party business which she started during her time with Big Blue Box He disclosed details of her theft and the police examination record show she used the company s stolen money to buy products and supplies to fund and operate her business This is a slap in the face to our company to see this business start and grow aided by her theft from our company he announced When it came time to address the court Larson shook as she read a prepared announcement She apologized to the people that I hurt disappointed lied and ultimately stole from I was selfish Big Blue Box was a home to me I was greeted every day with open arms friendships and leadership I hurt good people with good hearts Larson noted her gambling addiction fogged my judgment and led her to make choices I deeply regret I want the court to know that I acknowledge the harm I have caused to myself past employers family friends and my daughter There are no excuses I plan on making full restitution to the casualties Longbella declared after the hearing that the company had no comment on Larson s sentence adding We remain focused on moving forward