Eagan Woman Charged with Credit-Card Fraud, Contributing to Son's Delinquency

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An Eagan woman has been charged with credit-card fraud and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after police say she and her 16-year-old son used a stolen debit card to make purchases at stores in Eagan and Apple Valley in September

Earline Wasp, 45, is charged with felony credit-card fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The delinquency charge is a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

An Eagan man who lives on Diffley Road reported to police on Sept. 24 that he looked inside his wife’s car about 5 a.m. and saw that the glove compartment was open, and his wife’s wallet was lying open inside the compartment, according to the criminal complaint.

Within hours, someone began using a debit card belonging to the woman, including three Redbox movie rentals for $1.29 apiece. The next day, small purchases using the card were made at several Eagan gas stations and McDonald’s before Wasp successfully made a $172 purchase at the Apple Valley Walmart, according to the complaint.

Wasp’s son was captured on surveillance video on Sept. 25 in the electronics department at the Eagan Target store, trying to purchase a $499 camera and extended service plans, for a total of $614, the complaint says. The purchase was declined, and the boy went to the front of the store several minutes later and bought a soda and a pack of gum for $2.41, using the same debit card, according to the complaint.

On the evening of Sept. 25, Wasp was recorded on surveillance video at the Apple Valley Walmrt, using the stolen card to buy household and hygiene products and PlayStation 3 accessories for $172. Shortly afterward, her son was recorded using the same card to buy PlayStation headphones for $106, according to the complaint.

Wasp and her son stayed in the store, police say, and just before 11 p.m., Wasp was recorded using the card to buy a laptop computer for $386. Her son also appears on the surveillance video, helping his mother carry the computer out of the store.

Twenty minutes later, Wasp and her 17-year-old daughter were recorded on surveillance video at the Bloomington Walmart, using the stolen card to buy a $499 iPad. The transaction was denied.

The victims contacted police on Sept. 26 after checking their account and learning that someone was using the debit card.

On Sept. 27, police were given a still photo of the male suspect in the surveillance video and drove around the areas of Eagan where the card had been used. They spotted a group of young men walking near McDonald’s, one of whom looked like the suspect.

Police parked near the boy and yelled for him to stop. He identified himself to officers as “Tay” and was taken to the police station. Officers contacted Wasp, who said she would come to the station so she could be present when her son was interviewed.

During the trip to the police station, the boy, who was not handcuffed, began to punch the squad car’s center divider, and officers pulled over. One opened the rear passenger door and yelled at the boy to get on the ground; he jumped out of the car and lunged at the officer, according to the complaint.

While police were struggling to handcuff the boy, his sister and mother ran up, shouting. They were pushed back, but continued to yell at the officers as other residents from Wasp’s apartment complex gathered to watch the altercation.

The boy spit on one officer’s legs before he was subdued and put in the back seat of the squad car, according to the complaint. The boy’s sister began kicking the car’s rear bumper.

The officers resumed their trip to the police station, and the handcuffed boy began to bang his head against the car’s center partition. The officers pulled over again, and the boy began to scream that he was going to kill them, saying it was “not a threat but a promise,” according to the complaint.

The boy began violently kicking the driver’s side rear cage over the window and spit repeatedly all over the back seat, the complaint says. Backup officers arrived and helped put the boy in hobble restraints around his ankles and a spit hood on his head.

Wasp and her daughter pulled up alongside the squad car and accused the officers of using a stun gun on the boy. The girl told an officer that she was going to “kick his [expletive]” and that she would kill him if she ever saw him out of uniform, according to the complaint.

Officers continued driving the boy to Hastings. During the trip, he threatened to shoot them in the head, telling them that they would need bulletproof helmets, the complaint charges.

Wasp is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charges Jan. 14 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings. Because they are juveniles, no information was available on charges against her son or daughter.