Woman Stole $26K From Richfield 4th Of July Committee: Police

RICHFIELD, MN — The former president of the organization responsible for Richfield’s Fourth of July celebration is accused of stealing more than $26,000 from the nonprofit.

The 2023 celebration was canceled due to the reported theft, the Star Tribune reported.

Heather Dawn Lenke, 42, of Richfield faces one count of theft in connection with the Red, White, and Blue committee. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

On Jan. 9, Richfield police took a report from a committee member from the Red, White, and Blue committee, which had a checking account and savings account with My Credit Union, police said.

Lenke's personal accounts were linked to the committee's accounts, according to the criminal complaint. She was told to unlink the accounts but never did, authorities said.

On Nov. 8, 2022, another committee member logged into the Red, White and Blue committee’s accounts for tax purposes. When she logged on, the balance on the checking and savings accounts was $1 and some change, police said.

The Red, White, and Blue committee had been collecting donations and had not hosted an event since 2019, according to the criminal complaint. The only bill the committee had was a $171 monthly charge for a storage locker, police said.

A committee member who was friends with Lenke confronted her about the discrepancies, according to the criminal complaint. Lenke apologized, begged for 60 days to return the money, and said she was "trying to live" and "was insanely wrong," police said.

Police said these transactions were made on the Red, White, and Blue committee’s accounts in 2021 and 2022:

• $20,111 from the checking account was transferred to Lenke's account
• $25 check (debit) written on 1-3-2022 from the checking account
• $38 transfer from the checking account to Lenke's account
• $7,081 transfer from the savings account to Lenke's account
• $14 transfer from the savings account to Lenke's account
• Lenke transferred $861 back into the committee’s account.

The total amount taken and not returned was $26,383, police said.