County worker charged with theft

Singed up her ineligible mother for benefits

By Dan Nienaber

MANKATO — A former Blue Earth County fraud investigator has been charged with felony theft for allegedly placing her mother, who had a job in Texas at the time, on public assistance in Minnesota.

Lucy Jo Mikolai, 36, had left her fraud investigation job and was working as a Blue Earth County financial assistance specialist when she allegedly enrolled her mother in several public assistance programs.

Mikolai is accused of taking $1,211 in public assistance between Jan. 16 and Feb. 1 by enrolling her mother for general assistance payments, general assistance health care and food stamps.

Public assistance specialists are not allowed to process applications for friends, relatives or business associates, according to state law and Minnesota Department of Human Services rules.

The allegations were reported by a co-worker on Feb. 20, one month after Mikolai’s mother, 55-year-old Rozanna Freundl, received her first payments on Jan 20. Mikolai was placed on administrative leave and resigned June 5. The charges were filed Friday.

Freundl had traveled to Minnesota from Texas with her husband, Dale Freundl, for a vacation, according to the criminal complaint. Dale Freundl had cancer and was scheduled to return to Texas for treatment but died Jan. 5 at Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato.

State and county records show Mikolai processed a public assistance application for her mother Jan. 16 and approved the application four days later. The first payments were $105 in cash for general assistance, $91 in food stamps and an $812 check to pay for rent at a Lake Crystal residence.

Freundl, who told investigators she didn’t fill out any public assistance applications, was still receiving pay checks from her employer in Texas at the time. She hadn’t been a resident of Minnesota for at least 30 days, which is required before assistance can be issued, the complaint said. If Freundl had been a resident, she also had earned too much income in January to qualify for any of the public assistance programs.

Welfare providers are also required to verify the assets of applicants. At the time Freundl’s application was processed, she had $1,200 in a Texas bank account and was the registered owner of three personal vehicles, investigators reported. Her late husband also was the registered owner of a 2001 Mack semi tractor and trailer.

Bob Meyer, Blue Earth County director of human services, and Mikolai’s supervisor confronted her Feb. 23 and requested to see the file for Freundl. They were not able to obtain the file and failed to find it when Mikolai’s cubicle was searched, they said. That’s when Mikolai was placed on administrative leave and escorted from the Government Center.

Some documents, including public assistance notices for Freundl, were found in Mikolai’s recycling container a few days later, her supervisor reported. Documents making reference to vendor payments related to the file also were found.

Mikolai’s co-workers told investigators she had said her mother was only visiting Minnesota and hadn’t planned to stay before her husband died. When Rozanna Freundl’s district manager was contacted in Texas on March 16, he said Freundl and her husband had traveled to Minnesota for a holiday vacation, according to the complaint. He also said Freundl had not resigned from her job.

Freundl has faced welfare fraud charges in the past. She pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor theft charges in 1994 after she was charged with wrongfully obtaining public assistance. She had failed to report income she was receiving from a renter, so she had been paid about $2,300 in public assistance that she didn’t qualify for during 1991 through 1993.

Mikolai declined to comment about the allegations when she was contacted Monday, saying she is in the process of hiring an attorney. Mikolai’s first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 4.

Freundl could not be reached for comment.