On or about September 23, 2025, Bloomington police responded to Freeway Ford located in Bloomington, Hennepin County, Minnesota, for a fraudulent check that was used to purchase a vehicle. Police met with an employee. The employee advised that on September 6, 2025, the dealership sold a vehicle to Shawna Lynn Mildred Altepeter [DOB REDACTED], Defendant herein. An employee talked to Defendant by text message and email. Defendant provided a picture of her MN DL and eventually provided a check for a 2023 Ford Escape.
The check was in the amount of the purchase price $25,457.35. The dealership then delivered the vehicle to Defendant at her listed Chaska address. The employee met with Defendant at her house when he dropped the vehicle off. On September 15, 2025, Freeway Ford's bank was unable to accept the check. The paperwork provided showed "uncollected" as the reason for rejecting the check. On the paperwork it also stated "uncollected funds hold" as a return reason. In May the dealer received an alert from the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association about at least three dealerships reporting that Defendant attempted to purchase vehicles using fraudulent checks.
Uncollected does not mean the same as insufficient funds. Uncollected may mean the account is fraudulent or the account is closed. Freeway Ford did obtain the vehicle back. Police did obtain a search warrant for SoFi bank that showed Defendant at most had $1,402.26 in the account in question. Records also show that the check was rejected on 9/9/25 and 9/11/25 due to insufficient funds. Police spoke with Defendant and Defendant stated she had deposited $26,000 into her bank on 9/8/25. Which did not match the records police obtained.
Police then spoke with the dealership again where Defendant offered a different form of payment, but she then declined. Defendant is not in custody for this offense and has a few other similar pending charges in Hennepin County.
