Katherine Junge (OTCDF)
Fergus Falls, MN – A Fergus Falls CEO has been sentenced to five years of probation and restitution payments after using company funds to pay off her personal credit cards.
In March of 2022, the Fergus Falls Police Department received a report of suspected embezzlement of funds from the Lakes Region Association of Realtors and the Lakes Region Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
According to court documents, association members from the two companies told officials that 70-year-old Katherine Vicki Renee Junge was the CEO of both companies for the past 25 years. Association members attempted to obtain the passwords to association computers from Junge due to her retirement.
The association members reported the passwords provided were incorrect and Junge locked the door to her office preventing anyone from gaining access to the workspace. The association members were eventually able to gain access to the accounts and located credit card payments belonging to each association account.
The association members provided the bank account statements to law enforcement and claimed that Junge had misappropriated $57,289.73 from the bank account for Lake Region Association of Realtors and $86,546.07 from the bank account for Lake Region MLS between 2017 and 2022.
The Police Department requested the account records for both accounts, as well as Junge’s personal credit card statements. They found that Junge had been making purchases on her credit cards and using the misappropriated funds to pay off the debts.
Association members reviewed the charges with officers and determined several categories of purchases that would never have been purchased for any legitimate association use, including things like Hulu and Amazon subscriptions. The purchases started in 2016 and went on until the association members noticed the payments in 2022.
The unauthorized purchases and subsequent payments are believed to have caused a combined loss of around $144,022.85 to each association’s bank account.
Junge was charged with four counts of Theft in May 2023. On September 9th, 2024, she agreed to plead guilty to one count of Theft in exchange for the dismissal of the other three counts and a lighter sentence.
On October 28th, Junge was sentenced to pay $93,835.80 in restitution and be placed on probation for five years.
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