Owatonna woman charged with theft, forgery

An Owatonna woman has been charged with multiple felonies after authorities say she stole tens of thousands of dollars from her employer.

Kari Van Ravenhorst, 44, faces three counts of felony theft, one count of felony check forgery, and four counts of willfully attempting to evade or defeat a tax law, also a felony.

The total amount is listed as more than $84,000.

She is scheduled to make her first appearance Feb. 5 in Freeborn County District Court.

The investigation began in November 2024, when a detective with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office spoke with the owner of Thompson Sanitation about the discover of check forgeries. The company is based out of Clarks Grove and serves counties in southeast Minnesota and northern Iowa.

He said Van Ravenhorst was hired as an administrative assistant in June 2021, and was given day-to-day access to the company’s information and systems, including payroll and check-writing.

The owner said things “eventually became negative and (Van Ravenhorst) ran off a few of the other employees in the office,” and she would not let anyone touch her desk, come close to her desk, or help her in any way with the accounting of the business.

In May 2024, the owner called a company meeting to tell Van Ravenhorst that he was hiring someone to assist her.

Van Ravenhorst reportedly “stormed out of the meeting, berated the owner and swore at him.” A few days later, she asked for her job back, but was denied.

After her departure, discrepancies were found in the accounting and payroll systems.

According to the criminal complaint, the issues went back to when Van Ravenhorst started her employment at Thompson Sanitation, and included overpayments on (payroll) checks, taxes deducted improperly and voided checks that still cleared the business account.

A witness told the investigator Van Ravenhorst “always tried to stay out of camera sight” at the offices with large cash flow.

Over the years she was employed, court documents say, Van Ravenhorst should have deposited about $58,000 in cash sales, but the deposits for that time were only $9,500.

The criminal charges follow a civil lawsuit that was filed in October.

In that case, she and her husband Timothy Van Ravenhorst were both named; he is accused of knowing about the alleged thefts.

The couple have filed counterclaims, admitting to some of the basic facts and denying the criminal allegations.

Kari Van Ravenhorst claims she was “bullied, harassed and undermined through false statements about her work,” and said the “severe, pervasive conduct interfered with her ability to perform her job.”

The manager failed to investigate or discipline the offending employees, her counterclaim says, which resulted in emotional distress and economic harm to Kari Van Ravenhorst.

Timothy Van Ravenhorst’s counterclaim says he did not “know of, participate in, ratify, benefit from or conceal any alleged theft or misappropriation of funds.”

He is seeking damages for abuse of process and defamation.

No court dates have been set for hearings in the civil case.