Eden Prairie Woman Charged with Theft-by-Swindle

An Eden Prairie woman has been charged with one count of theft-by-swindle for her connection to multiple, falsified armed robbery incidents, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

Yuridia Hernandez Linares, 36, concocted a plan for undocumented individuals, where for $2,000, she could get them U visas by faking armed robberies. These people would stab themselves with a knife to make it appear the armed robbery was authentic and then report the incident to the police. The U visas are given to undocumented people who cooperate with police or prosecutors as a victim or witness to a crime. It provides them with temporary protection from deportation.

Criminal complaint against Hernandez Linares (PDF)