A Burnsville woman has been charged with stealing jewelry and cash from her grandmother for months, then pawning the jewelry and replacing the cash with photocopies.

Kristin Elyse Frame, 21, is charged with three felonies: two counts of theft, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and counterfeiting of currency, for which the maximum penalty is 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. 

Frame is also charged with misdemeanor theft, which has a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim told police on Oct. 25 that Frame, her granddaughter, had pawned a “significant” amount of her jewelry. 

The woman said Frame had been living with her since February 2011, and that she had given her about $10,000 in financial assistance, including co-signing for a car loan and making some of the payments. However, Frame had not been making payments on the car, and the victim said she had been receiving notices of the missed payments.

The victim said she was worried about her credit score, so she began searching through her home for notices of the missed payments so she could pay the outstanding balance. While she was looking, she found a pawn receipt for a number of pieces of jewelry.

The victim said she knew that Frame didn’t own any jewelry, so she checked her own and discovered a number of pieces missing.

An officer checked pawn records, and found that Frame had pawned 148 items since May 2011, 138 of which were jewelry, and had received more than $6,000 from the pawn shop. The value of the stolen jewelry “far exceeds” the money that Frame got from the pawn shop, according to the complaint.

Police unsuccessfully tried to contact Frame. On Oct. 30, the victim returned to the police station and reported that Frame had quit her job after telling her employers that she had “medical issues” and was going to Mayo Clinic. She said she also found that $600 in cash had been taken from envelopes that she keeps in the house to pay bills, and replaced with photocopies of currency.

Later that day, the victim called police and said she had spoken to Frame, who admitted to everything and apologized. She told police where Frame could be found, and when they arrived, she said, “I know why you’re here,” according to the complaint.

Frame told police that she initially took a few of her grandmother’s items, and when she didn’t notice, began to take more, the complaint charges. She also admitted taking $600 in cash and making photocopies to replace the bills, saying that she hoped to trick her grandmother into believing they were real “if she looked quickly,” according to the complaint.

Frame remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $10,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in her case is scheduled Nov. 27 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.