Former Rosemount Woman, Eagan Basketball Coach Charged in Swindle Cases

From the Dakota County Attorney's Office:

County Attorney James Backstrom announced that , age 60 of Eagan, has been charged* with six counts of Theft By Swindle in connection with taking monies that should have been paid to Independent School District 196. This was done by Virgin while running two basketball camps and one soccer camp each summer, from the period of April 2009 to December 2011. The total loss to the school district as a result of Virgin’s actions was $29,184.42. The criminal complaint filed alleges the following facts:

The Director of Secondary Education in ISD196 contacted the Eagan police department in December of 2011 to report concerns about the manner in which Kurt Virgin had been running sports camps. Virgin reported that he was operating the sports camps through the school, but it was discovered that he was diverting some of the registration fees to his personal bank accounts. It was also discovered that he was siphoning funds from the students fund raising activities into his personal checking and savings accounts. In November 2011, school officials met with Virgin, who admitted that he had been improperly using these funds for personal purposes.

In a separate case, Dawn Westphal, age 42 formerly of Rosemount (now residing in Minot, North Dakota), has been charged* with nine counts of Theft by Swindle in connection with a theft scheme involving the theft of almost $80,000 from February 2006 to January 2011 from the Eagan telecommunications company where she was then working as the Office Manager. The criminal complaint filed alleges the following facts:

The Eagan police department received information of possible theft by an employee who had resigned from the company in 2011 and moved to North Dakota. It was learned that there were some irregularities with bank accounts Westphal was responsible for managing. The business determined Wesphal had embezzled a significant amount of money by fabricating entries and depositing monies directly into her personal bank account. Westphal admitted to falsifying the ledgers to cover her tracks. She stated that initially she didn’t think of it as stealing because she intended to pay the funds back with interest. She also admitted she subconsciously knew she was never going to pay it back but wanted to take full responsibility for the theft.

Backstrom commented: “Financial crimes of this nature are very troubling. Since 2006, we have charged 22 adults in Dakota County with major economic crimes in excess of $50,000 and 8 cases of thefts from schools or youth sporting organizations (only 1 of which exceeded $50,000).”

Backstrom thanked the Eagan Police Department for their thorough investigation into both of these cases. Both will make their first court appearance on June 11 at 8:30 a.m. in Hastings.

Additional facts pertaining to these cases can be found online at www.DakotaCounty.us/Attorney (click on Criminal Complaint Search and/or News Release). For more information, contact James Backstrom at 651-438-4440.

*Criminal charges are not evidence of guilt. A defendant/suspect is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.