On August 28, 2024, the Maplewood Police Department (“Maplewood PD”) responded to a fraud report from Homestead of Maplewood (“Homestead”), a senior living facility located at [ADDRESS REDACTED] East in Maplewood, Ramsey County. Homestead employees told law enforcement that one of its residents, CJF, appeared to have had two debit cards used to make fraudulent purchases. Homestead also indicated that CJF had symptoms of dementia. Homestead provided law enforcement with statements for a U. S. Bank account tied to CJF’s debit card.
Homestead pointed to purchases for Uber, Grubhub and Walmart that raised red flags because CJF almost never leaves the premises of the senior living facility. The responding Maplewood PD officer also spoke with CJF while at Homestead. At the time, CJF indicated that she is not able to monitor her own finances. Investigation of Suspected Fraud Transactions Maplewood PD initiated an investigation based upon the fraud report and information it received from Homestead. The investigator obtained records from multiple sources, including Uber.
Those records indicated that Uber customer VARNICIE MARTIN [DOB REDACTED] had utilized CJF’s debit card for various transactions on the ride-sharing app. The Uber customer records for Martin included a phone number of [PHONE REDACTED] and an email address of [email redacted]. Maplewood PD independently verified that both the phone number and email address belonged to an individual named Varnicie Martin, who became the target of the ongoing investigation. Maplewood PD followed up with Homestead about the information it had obtained during its investigation.
Homestead confirmed that Varnicie Martin was an employee at the senior living facility. Homestead immediately suspended Martin due to the nature of her work with seniors at the facility. Homestead made arrangements for a meeting with Martin at noon on the following day, November 20, 2024. Maplewood PD officers went to Homestead on that date and time to participate in the meeting as well. However, Martin did not show up for the meeting. To further its investigation, Maplewood PD obtained additional records from Uber.
Those records indicated that 142 rides had been charged to CJF’s debit card between May 22, 2024 and August 26, 2024. Those charges totaled $2,148.87. The additional Uber records also provided location information for the rides in question. Law enforcement’s data mapping of the location information showed that the majority of the rides occurred between Martin’s residence (the University Dale Apartments at [ADDRESS REDACTED] West in St. Paul) and her place of employment (Homestead’s location in Maplewood). Maplewood PD confirmed Martin’s continued residence at the University Dale Apartments by visiting the location in January 2025. The mailbox for [APT REDACTED] displayed Martin’s name.
