The owner of a children’s store in Minnesota pleaded guilty to a $9 million fraud

A Sartell woman pleaded guilty to creating a fake vendor and creating false invoices to obtain more than $9 million in financing, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.

Adele Starin, 40, participated in the scam through her Minnesota business, Baby’s on Broadway, which sold baby products and toys in storefronts in downtown St. Cloud and Little Falls, according to the documents.

“Faced with mounting business debts arising from (Baby’s on Broadway) commercial operations, (Starin) sought fraudulent methods to secure financing,” court documents state.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a statement that Starin initially submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement to TRICARE, a health care program that is part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s military health care system, which “paid many of Starin’s fraudulent claims, but when TRICARE began denying these claims, Starin expanded her scheme to include other sources of income.”

The documents allege that Starin created a company called Sunshine Medical and created fake invoices that she sent to two creditors, Texas-based Liquid Capital Enterprises Corp. and California’s Slope Tech. Inc.

“Sunshine had no inventory, was not a supplier of (Baby’s on Broadway), and was not engaged in any legitimate business,” the documents state. Starin received about $1.1 million from Liquid Capital Enterprises and about $8 million from Slope Tech.

On December 19, Starin pleaded guilty to one count of fraud. Her plea agreement includes a prison sentence of 41 to 51 months, as well as fines and restitution to TRICARE and two creditors. Her sentence has not been set.