Alexandria woman appears in court on felony identity theft charge

ALEXANDRIA — An Alexandria woman made her first court appearance on a charge of felony identity theft.

Desiree Jean Roberts, 39, appeared via Zoom for a hearing in Douglas County District Court on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

According to the statement of probable cause, on July 20, 2022, Roberts was arrested in Alexandria on an active warrant for check forgery from Kandiyohi County.

When Roberts was arrested, she allegedly had nine checks and a driver's license that did not belong to her in her possession, the statement read.

The owner of the driver's license was contacted, and said she had requested a new license after her old one expired, but it never showed up in her mailbox, the statement read.

The people who wrote the checks said they were put in the mail, as well, the statement read.

The maximum sentence for felony identity theft is 20 years imprisonment and/or a $35,000 fine.

During Wednesday's hearing, Roberts said she would fight the charge.

A release order has been issued in the case of Carlos man, Tyler Leigh Anderson, 33, who has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree.

The crime is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and/or a $20,000 fine per count.

Under the terms of his release, Anderson must post a $20,000 bail or bond with no conditions, the order read.

According to the statement of probable cause, Anderson allegedly inappropriately touched a 16-year-old girl.

Judge Michelle Clark requested a warrant be issued in the case of a Brainerd woman who failed to appear in Douglas County District Court on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Michelle Renee O'Reilly, 55, has been charged with felony possession or sale of stolen or counterfeit check or checks.

The maximum sentence for the charge is five years imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.

A warrant for O'Reilly's arrest was requested when she failed to show up for a scheduled hearing, but has not posted yet in Minnesota's online court records system.

According to the statement of probable cause, O'Reilly brought a check to be cashed at Viking Pawn in August of 2021.

The check was written to O'Reilly from Alta Paints & Coatings, but was eventually returned to Viking Pawn as being "altered/fictitious," the statement read.

The check was in the amount of $1,650.50, the statement read.

A detective found that checks were stolen from Alta Paints & Coatings in 2020, and at least one bank has received multiple fraudulent checks from the account, the statement read.

The person the detective spoke to said she believed the check in question was recreated by someone and wasn't an actual check that was stolen, the statement read.

Attempts to contact O'Reilly by the authorities have been unsuccessful, the statement read.

In addition, mail that was sent to her last known address was returned with the message that O'Reilly moved and left no forwarding address, court records show.