Freeborn County commissioner charged in $1 million scheme

Freeborn County commissioner allegedly stole from escrow accounts to pay for gambling. 

Dozens of cats and dogs at the Humane Society of Freeborn County will remain stuck in cramped quarters because $150,000 set aside to expand the shelter was stolen in a financial scheme that investigators say was orchestrated by a Freeborn County commissioner.

Linda Tuttle-Olson, 59, who represents a portion of the Albert Lea area on the county board, was charged this week with 13 felony counts in a theft-by-swindle scheme that has left the shelter and at least 11 other victims out more than $1 million. Most of those victims had placed tens of thousands of dollars in escrow accounts overseen by Tuttle Olson’s company — Albert Lea Abstract Co. According to the criminal complaint, Tuttle used a chunk of that money for gambling.

Read the full Star Tribune story here

————————————————