On May 2, 2026, at 1459 hours, St. Paul Park Police Department Officer Thisius was dispatched to take a phone call for a fraud report. She contacted the complainant, DRJ (an ) by phone and took a statement from him. DRJ said that he and his wife were selling his wife's black 2006 Dodge Ram truck and the truck was parked at his wife's father's house, which is located outside of a residence in St. Paul Park, Washington County, Minnesota. An individual who DRJ knew as "Britteny B" saw the truck parked outside of the residence and expressed interest in purchasing the truck. "Britteny B" was later identified as BRITTENY AMBER BRANSHAW [DOB REDACTED]. DRJ began communicating with Branshaw via text messages about the truck.
DRJ provided Officer Thisius with Branshaw's phone number. On May 2, at 1420, Branshaw was dropped off at the address in St. Paul Park, and test drove the truck. She then gave DRJ 52 $100 bills ($5,200.00) and DRJ gave her the title for the vehicle. DRJ said that Branshaw signed "Britteny B" on the title but provided no other necessary information. Upon his arrival at home, DRJ observed that the money provided to him by Branshaw counterfeit money. DRJ works for AAA and utilized a counterfeit money detector pen, observing that the color changed to brown, which indicated the money was fake.
DRJ advised that Branshaw had signed the "Seller's Notice of Sale" portion of the vehicle title, but had not provided her [DL# REDACTED], date of birth, full name or address. DRJ gave Officer Thisius a physical description of Branshaw. He later dropped off the counterfeit money and the bottom portion of the vehicle title. A KOPS alert was put out on the truck. On May 3, at 1646 hours, Officer Thisius was advised that Richfield Police Department officers had located the truck and stopped it outside of Dick's Sporting Goods in Richfield, Minnesota.
The officers advised that the vehicle was occupied by an adult male driver and a female passenger, who was identified as Branshaw. The Richfield police officers advised that additional counterfeit money had been located inside of the truck, totaling $22,800.00. Officer Thisius responded to the scene in Richfield and took custody of Branshaw and transported her to the Washington County Adult Detention Center. She saw that Branshaw matched the description of the suspect that had been provided by DRJ. Approximately two minutes after Officer Thisius informed Branshaw that she would be on a 48 hold when transported to the jail, rather than being booked and released, Branshaw said she wasn't feeling well and had swallowed fentanyl.
Officer Thisius had EMS respond to her location and Branshaw was medically cleared.
