On November 24, 2025, at 1244 hours, Ramsey County deputies responded to Frandsen Bank and Trust, 3585 Highway 61, Vadnais Heights, Ramsey County, on a report of fraud. Deputies learned that a male, later identified as James A. Butler, [DOB REDACTED], provided a Minnesota driver’s license in the name of Joseph John Mahn, [DOB REDACTED], and requested that $25,074.00 be withdrawn from Mahn’s line of credit. The account had a flag on it for a stolen ID. Management compared the photo on file for Mahn with Butler and the apparent fraudulent driver’s license and concluded that an Identity Theft was occurring.
The staff did not withdraw the funds. They alerted law enforcement. Deputies located Butler walking nearby. They arrested him. Butler did not initially cooperate with the identification but eventually admitted that he is James A. Butler, from Rhode Island, and not Joseph John Mahn. Butler declined a custodial interview. Butler had the counterfeit driver’s license on his person along with a Visa Platinum credit card in Mahn’s name. Investigators contacted Mahn. He said that his and his wife’s mail had likely been stolen as his wife was a victim of identity theft by a female suspect who also used a counterfeit ID and requested $22,000 from an equity loan at a Frandsen Bank in Zumbrota, Minnesota.
Butler has no criminal history in Minnesota but has a long criminal history in multiple states including theft and theft-related arrests and convictions along with narcotics arrests and convictions.
