A woman is accused of trying to use a fake military ID to withdraw money from another customer’s account at a MidWestOne Bank branch in Eden Prairie, according to a Hennepin County criminal complaint.
Melissa Marie Will, 47, of Elmira Heights, New York, is charged with two misdemeanors – identity theft and fraud in obtaining credit – in connection with the Aug. 13 incident at the bank, 6640 Shady Oak Road. Her arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Hennepin County District Court’s Ridgedale division in Minnetonka, court records show.
According to the complaint, a personal banker told Eden Prairie police that a woman entered the bank about 6:40 p.m. and tried to make a withdrawal from another customer’s account using a military identification card. The banker, a former member of the military, immediately recognized the ID as fake and denied the transaction.
The woman took the identification card and left without incident. Bank staff later learned the same suspect had attempted a similar withdrawal earlier that day at MidWestOne’s Elk River branch, police said.
An Eden Prairie detective reviewed surveillance footage showing a woman with long dark hair, wearing a red shirt and black leggings, entering the bank and interacting with a teller before leaving toward nearby Wooddale Church, the complaint said.
Investigators later identified the suspect as Will after comparing images from the Eden Prairie incident with photos from the Elk River Police Department and a booking photo from a Brainerd Police Department arrest the following day. Will was reportedly in custody in Crow Wing County on unrelated charges when an investigator attempted to interview her about the Eden Prairie case.
Police said Will has prior arrests for identity theft, forgery, drug possession and weapons offenses in Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. She also has a non-extraditable warrant from Wheeling, West Virginia, for identity theft, according to the complaint.
No money was taken in the Eden Prairie incident, and the account holder told police she did not know the suspect, court records state.
