Former Sherburne County commissioner Timothy Dolan charged with identity theft, forgery
SHERBURNE COUNTY, Minn. -- A former Sherburne County commissioner faces identity theft and forgery charges after he allegedly tampered with his partner's business and personal finances.
The complaint alleges that Timothy Dolan was employed at an economic development consulting business called The Decklan Group, which was owned by the victim, who was Dolan's significant other at the time. Dolan managed the business' accounts, and because of their relationship, the victim trusted him with the company's finances.
In 2021, the victim hired a bookkeeper to help with the business and learned that the business had unpaid taxes.
Then in May of 2022, Dolan had a medical emergency that required a lengthy recovery period. The woman took over his business phone and computer, and learned that there were multiple business credit cards she had not applied for. The business also had monthly expenses of nearly $30,000 related to credit card debt, the complaint says.
She learned that Dolan was behind on his taxes, and that he was being sued for unpaid debt. There were overdue payments for her company, and their home insurance was also being canceled due to nonpayment.
It was the first time she became aware of the financial problems, and she fired Dolan on May 25, 2022.
A bookkeeper then analyzed Decklan Group's finances that showed over $600,000 in unapproved debits made by Dolan between 2015 and May of 2022. The victim also filed forgery affidavits for checks written on her E*Trade account, totaling over $58,000. There were also unauthorized debits from her E*Trade savings account of over $182,000.
The charges also go on to describe multiple credit cards that Dolan allegedly opened. Payments for these cards came out of the victim's personal E*Trade account.
Dolan was also charged in 2022 for allegedly stalking and taking thousands of inappropriate photos of the woman without her knowledge. She discovered these photos when she took over Dolan's phone in 2022; she found roughly 20,000 images of herself in various stages of undress that were taken without her knowledge or consent, documents state.
Dolan is charged with one count of identity theft and one count of check forgery. Forgery and identity theft charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
