A man talked a longtime friend into depositing a counterfeit check, then drained her bank account and locked her out of it, according to the complaint.

Jalen Dominik Burnip, who was 23 at the time of the alleged offense, is charged in Hennepin County District Court with felony theft and felony financial transaction card fraud. The complaint was filed Nov. 3. The alleged fraud happened in October 2024.

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According to the complaint, New Hope police responded to a fraud report at a home in New Hope on Oct. 25, 2024. The woman told officers that Burnip, a friend of several years, asked her to act as trustee on a trust fund he said he owned. She agreed. At his request, she deposited a check he gave her into her Topline Credit Union account and gave him her online banking information and debit card.

The complaint says she became uncomfortable with his behavior and canceled the deposited check. Soon after, Burnip withdrew money from several ATMs and made point-of-sale withdrawals against her account, overdrawing it. He then changed the password to her bank account, locking her out, and blocked her, according to the complaint.

Her bank told her the check was counterfeit and that other counterfeit checks had been deposited into her account through her mobile app. The complaint says Burnip also obtained her Social Security number and address and texted screenshots of her information to mutual friends.

Officers reviewed her bank statements and confirmed a $5,474.92 check was deposited Oct. 21, 2024. The check was returned as counterfeit Oct. 24. On Oct. 22, several withdrawals she did not authorize were made, including three at a Walmart in West Saint Paul and two ATM withdrawals in Eagan, according to the complaint. Surveillance video from the Walmart showed Burnip completing three of the transactions.

The complaint says officers searched Burnip’s apartment and found a stack of blank security checks used for printing checks, a Samsung Galaxy S4 cell phone, an HP Chromebook, debit cards in other people’s names, a letter of closure from Wings Financial and Wings Financial ATM receipts.

Burnip was arrested May 13, 2025, and taken to the Hennepin County jail. The next day, the complaint says, he made multiple phone calls from jail asking friends and family to erase content from his seized cell phone, including ending his Telegram connection. He gave his password over the phone to help others access and erase data from his other phones, according to the complaint.

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Jurisdictional Context

Hennepin County is Minnesota’s most populous jurisdiction. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office handles felony prosecutions across Minneapolis and 44 other cities; the Fourth Judicial District presides over felony arraignments and trials at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.