A self-admitted gambling addict was spared prison Tuesday for swindling more than $600,000 from a New Brighton portable storage company while she was employed as its accounting specialist.

Ramsey County District Judge Sophia Vuelo stayed a nearly five-year prison term for Kylie Marie Larson and gave the 32-year-old a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines that includes a year in the workhouse and 10 years of probation. She must serve 60 days in jail before being eligible for electronic home monitoring.

Kylie Marie Larson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Larson was ordered to pay back the $606,790.42 that she stole from her former employer — Portable Storage of MN, a family-run business that operates under the name Big Blue Box — from late November 2020 to late March 2024.

The charges say Larson used her “position of trust” at the business to employ an “elaborate and sophisticated scheme” for her personal monetary gain.

Through bank records, charges say, New Brighton police investigator Joe Pyka discovered Larson made nearly 230 transactions — a mix of ATM withdrawals and debit-card purchases — at Running Aces, Mystic Lake and Little Six casinos — totaling just shy of $294,000.

She made nearly 1,200 Amazon purchases, spending more than $130,000 on groceries, alcohol, home improvement supplies, clothing, electronics, digital subscriptions, luggage and sex toys, among other items.

In March, after reaching an agreement with the prosecution, Larson pleaded guilty to one count each of theft by swindle and identity theft and faced a presumptive prison term. She agreed to the restitution as part of the plea.

The prosecution, which had agreed to dismiss 10 other charges, asked Vuelo for a five-year prison term, with Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Thomas Madison noting Larson’s past similar convictions in his argument against probation.

In 2021, while working for Big Blue Box, Larson was put on probation in Dakota County for check forgery and theft by swindle for defrauding a previous employer. Although Big Blue Box ran a background check on Larson before she was hired in 2020, the business did not catch the case because she had not yet been charged.

Larson’s attorney, Ryan Garry, told the judge that Larson has been diagnosed with a “severe” gambling disorder and began outpatient treatment and therapy the same month she was charged. She attends therapy weekly and outpatient treatment three times a week, he said.

Vuelo cited a number of factors in making her decision. She said Larson is “particularly motivated to change, if she was not in the past” and that she’s young enough to “still turn her life around and truly be a positive, contributing member of our society.” Larson has “the ability and know-how and the intellect to earn a living,” the judge said, while ordering that 30 percent of her monthly earnings go toward restitution.

Fired from previous job

According to the 17-page criminal complaint, Larson was hired by Portable Storage as an account specialist on Sept. 21, 2020. She passed a background check, but the company did not speak with her former employer as part of the hiring process.

Less than a month earlier, on Aug. 12, Larson was fired from her accountant job with Southview Senior Communities in Lilydale. A review of Southview’s finances showed Larson wrote out eight fraudulent checks between February 2020 — the same month she was hired — and July 17, 2020, totaling just over $24,000.

Once at Big Blue Box, Larson had access to and regularly handled sensitive financial information through the company’s bookkeeping software, online bank accounts, financial statements, credit card and checks. “(A co-worker) indicated that (Larson) was an enthusiastic and well‐liked employee during most of her tenure with Portable Storage,” the complaint says.

But Larson had another secret, starting in February 2022 when she was charged in Ramsey County District Court with obtaining unemployment benefits through false representation. The criminal complaint says she received more than $16,300 in unemployment benefits while working at Portable Storage, spending at least $30,000 at Mystic Lake Casino and over $10,000 at Running Aces.

Larson’s co-worker at Big Blue Box eventually stumbled upon the theft at the New Brighton company in October 2023 while working on company accounts. The worker noticed in QuickBooks software several discrepancies in payments to a vendor — Arrow Towing, out of Nebraska. Larson had no explanation for the discrepancies, despite being given until early February to come up with one.

After her arrest on the charges, Larson said she had a gambling addiction and had been trying to get help for a long time. She cited difficulty with being a single mother and seeing her daughter’s friends go on trips when she could not buy groceries. At the end of the interview, Larson said: “I knew this day was going to come, but I didn’t know when.”

Company had $10K insurance policy

One side of the courtroom gallery was full with employees of Big Blue Box. Andrew Longbella, chief financial officer, read a prepared statement on behalf of the company, which was founded in 2001 by his uncle William Kirkpatrick.

Earlier, prosecutor Madison had noted the company had an insurance policy to cover employee theft in the amount of $10,000.

Outside of the monetary loss, Longbella said, the major impact of the crime was that Kirkpatrick, who served as CEO, “had to deal with the discovery of this theft and the impact to his company in the final months of his life.” At the same time the theft was discovered, he said, Kirkpatrick’s battle with melanoma took a turn for the worse and he died on July 26 at age 57.

“I watched as he painfully spent countless hours with me, helping to navigate decisions and the potential impacts to our company,” he said. “… Precious time that was taken away from him and his family that he would not get back.”

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Longbella said Larson has a successful children’s birthday party business, which she started during her time with Big Blue Box. He said details of her theft and the police investigation report show she used the company’s stolen money to buy products and supplies to fund and operate her business.

“This is a slap in the face to our company to see this business start and grow, aided by her theft from our company,” he said.

When it came time to address the court, Larson shook as she read a prepared statement. She apologized to “the people that I hurt, disappointed, lied and ultimately stole from. I was selfish. … Big Blue Box was a home to me. I was greeted every day with open arms, friendships and leadership. I hurt good people with good hearts.”

Larson said her gambling addiction “fogged my judgment” and led her to make choices “I deeply regret. I want the court to know that I acknowledge the harm I have caused to myself, past employers, family, friends and my daughter. There are no excuses. I plan on making full restitution to the victims.”

Longbella said after the hearing that the company had no comment on Larson’s sentence, adding: “We remain focused on moving forward.”

The Saints’ streak of games without a rainout ran to 14 on Sunday but was snapped on Tuesday when their game against Norfolk at CHS Field was postponed.

It’s St. Paul’s 12th rainout this season, a record since the team became the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate.

The teams are scheduled to make it up as part of a double-header on Thursday with Game 1 beginning at 5:07 p.m. Both games are scheduled for seven innings, the second beginning approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.

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Fans that purchased tickets for the May 20 game via phone or online will have rain tickets put into their account equal to the ticket value they purchased and can be used towards any 2025 Saints regular season game. Fans that purchased tickets in person at the box office must redeem their tickets for any 2025 regular season game during normal box office hours Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. or Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Minnesota’s Legislature wrapped up the 2025 regular session late Monday night without passing the state’s next two-year budget.

There will be a government shutdown if they don’t pass a budget by June 30, so what is next?

They’ll have to return to the Capitol for a special session sometime before then to pass the remaining pieces of a more than $66 billion budget deal reached by Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders.

Major areas of the budget, like the K-12 education and health bills that account for about two-thirds of state spending, are still incomplete. There isn’t a final bill on taxes either.

Negotiations continued Tuesday on those incomplete budget areas with “working groups” made up of members of both parties from the Senate and House.

Compromise will be key as the House is tied between DFL and GOP 67-67 and the DFL has a one-seat majority in the Senate. Top legislators said those groups will have to finalize bills and make compromises before a special session can start.

Lisa Demuth (Courtesy photo)

“Hard decisions still have to be made and then we will come back when the governor calls us to finish up the work for Minnesotans,” Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth told reporters after adjournment late Monday night.

When will it happen?

Top lawmakers and the governor said they hope to get a budget passed before June 1, when the state will have to send layoff notices to state employees to prepare for a possible shutdown.

House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman told reporters before the midnight deadline to pass bills Monday that the earliest possible date for a special session was Thursday. Though she also said lawmakers might return to the Capitol on May 27, the day after Memorial Day weekend.

DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman.

If the budget deal makes it through in its current form, the state will have a two-year budget of more than $66 billion. It aims to control spending growth in social services and education to address a projected $6 billion budget shortfall looming later this decade. It’s down from the last budget, which topped $70 billion. There are also some tweaks to state taxes that result in cuts of more than $300 million in the next four years.

The deal holds so far

The deal seems to be holding together so far, though as the session wrapped up, Republicans and DFLers started blaming one another for delays and signaled they might press for changes. DFLers in particular pushed against Republican-backed rollbacks to a paid family medical leave that were outside the leaders’ agreement.

Many DFLers say they won’t vote for a part of the deal that would end state-funded health insurance coverage for adults in the U.S. illegally through MinnesotaCare, something Republicans strongly pushed for in negotiations.

“There are a lot of parts of this budget deal that aren’t what either party would want if they have they had total control,” said House Floor Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey. “We’re all giving up something. We expect Democrats to pull their part of the deal.”

Hortman told reporters she planned to honor the deal and hoped the Legislature would avoid distractions and stay focused on getting the basic budget agreement passed.

“We’ve got to get on the train of working together, getting things done, and save … the partisan potshots for when we’re in campaign season again,” she said.

Tax discussion

The tax working group met on Tuesday to discuss a proposal to cut overall taxes by around $308 million in the next four years, but raise the tax on cannabis sales from 10% to 15% to bring in $147 million in the same period.

Already, there are disagreements on exactly what the deal does and does not allow. Lawmakers couldn’t reach a consensus on tax exemptions for data centers, which may lose their exemption on an electricity tax as part of the deal.

“It would make it easier for everybody if we were all on the same page, and it’s clear to me that we’re not,” said Senate Taxes Chair Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope. “We just need clarification from people who signed the agreement.”

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A United States Air Force veteran, who the U.S. government had determined to be wrongfully detained in Venezuela, was released from custody Tuesday.

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Joseph St. Clair was handed over to U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, according to a statement from the veteran’s family and a post on X from the official. The family said St. Clair, who had served four tours in Afghanistan, was detained in November.

“This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it, but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” St. Clair’s parents, Scott and Patti, said in a statement.

Scott St. Clair told The Associated Press earlier this month that his son, a language specialist, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Joe St. Clair is back in America,” Grenell posted on X along with four photos, including one showing him and the veteran on a runway and another of both sitting inside an airplane. Grenell added, without providing details, that he met Venezuelan officials “in a neutral country” on Tuesday “to negotiate an America First strategy.”

Six other Americans detained in Venezuela in the months after the country’s July presidential election were freed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro after he met Grenell in February.

Grenell, during the meeting in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans have since been deported to their home country.

Last week, Maduro thanked Trump and Grenell for allowing a 2-year-old girl to reunite with her mother, who had been deported to Venezuela in April. Maduro described the U.S. government’s decision to send the girl to Venezuela as a “profoundly humane” act.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america