Woman Charged with Theft, Credit-Card Fraud in Burnsville Case

A Cottage Grove woman has been charged with theft and credit-card fraud after authorities say she stole items from a Burnsville home, pawned them and used the owner’s Discover card.

Catherine Lynne Dufour, 22, faces two felony charges in connection with the incident, which happened last August, according to the criminal complaint against her. The maximum penalty for theft is 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine; the maximum penalty for credit-card fraud is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the complaint, the victim, who lives in the 200 block of River Woods Lane, called Burnsville police last Aug. 12 to report multiple items missing from her home. She told police that she suspected that some of her son’s friends might be involved in the theft.

The officer asked an investigator to check the automated pawn system, which found that several of the stolen items had been pawned the same day by Dufour for $301.

Investigators interviewed the victim’s son, who said Dufour and two male friends slept at his mother’s home on Aug. 11. They awakened at 8 a.m. Aug. 12, left the house unlocked and went to a plasma donation center in St. Paul, according to the complaint.

The son told police that he left Dufour and one of the men in the car and asked them to pick him up at the donation center in an hour. While he was waiting, the son got a call from his mother, telling him that items had been stolen from the home; Dufour and the man never returned to pick up the son, according to the complaint.

The victim told police that her Discover card had been successfully used to charge $320 worth of items at a store in West St. Paul on Aug. 12. A second transaction on the card at the same store for $155 was declined, as was a transaction at another West St. Paul store for $195.

Investigators obtained surveillance video from the stores and determined that the woman involved in all three transactions was Dufour, according to the complaint. In one transaction, when the Discover card was declined, Dufour offered a different card in her own name, the complaint says.

An investigator subsequently interviewed Dufour, who admitted that she and her male friend had stolen the items from the Burnsville home and pawned them.

Authorities have been unable to locate the man, who they say does not have a permanent address.

Dufour’s criminal history includes a theft conviction in 2010 in Washington County and credit-card fraud in Dakota County the same year.