MN Cannabis Services employee stole $28K by making fake checks: Charges
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(FOX 9) - An employee with Minnesota Cannabis Services faces several charges after an audit determined he had stolen more than $28,000 by altering checks and depositing the proceeds into his own bank account.
Minnesota Cannabis Services check fraud
What we know:
John Nguyen Lutgen, of St. Paul, faces one count of theft by swindle and one count of check forgery as part of a scheme that allegedly occurred between July 10 and Aug. 19, 2026.
Dig deeper:
According to charges filed in Hennepin County, on Aug. 21, 2026, Edina police received a report from the compliance officer at Minnesota Cannabis Services, located in the city of Edina, that an audit had revealed an employee, identified as Lutgen, had siphoned money from the business and was depositing it into his own personal bank account after checks were discovered to have been altered.
The tip said that Minnesota Cannabis Services was alerted to suspicious behavior by the City of Inver Grove Heights when they were asked to rewrite a check to Lutgen instead of the business.
When Lutgen was confronted by the compliance officer, they located three checks in his backpack he was not authorized to be in possession of, according to charges.
A further investigation later revealed that he had used his Minnesota Cannabis Services-issued computer to alter the checks using software that recorded his actions.
The amount of altered checks, according to charges, can be found below:
- July 3, 2026 — $825.00
- July 10, 2026 — $3,922.00
- July 10, 2026 — $1,540.00
- Jul 13, 2026 — $3,312.00
- July 20, 2026 — $2,880.00
- Jul 22, 2026 — $1,250.00
- July 23, 2026 — $6,480.00
- Aug. 3, 2026 — $2,075.00
- Aug. 6, 2026 — $1,440.00
- Aug. 14, 2026 — $609.60
- Aug. 17, 2026 — $3,060.00
- Aug. 19, 2026 — $1,142.00
Big picture view:
According to its site, Minnesota Cannabis Services is a professional consulting and staffing firm that partners with operators across cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail to provide expertise in legal and regulatory compliance, accounting and financial planning, business analytics, marketing, staffing, human resources and more.
The Source: Information provided by charges filed in Hennepin County.