{"id":44218,"date":"2026-08-20T15:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=44218"},"modified":"2026-08-15T21:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T02:14:00","slug":"underwood-woman-faces-2-felonies-in-benefits-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/underwood-woman-faces-2-felonies-in-benefits-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Underwood Woman Faces 2 Felonies in Benefits Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Underwood Woman Faces 2 Felonies in Benefits Case<\/h2>\n

Underwood<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 An Underwood woman faces two felony charges involving Minnesota Medical Assistance benefits.<\/p>\n

Denise Carol Harms, 67, is charged with felony perjury and felony theft by false representation.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege unreported income resulted in more than $15,000 in Medical Assistance overpayments.<\/p>\n

The case is filed in Otter Tail County District Court as 56-CR-26-1668.<\/p>\n

Renewal Form Questioned<\/h2>\n

According to the complaint, Harms submitted a Minnesota Health Care Programs renewal form in January 2024.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Harms reported that no household member had income from work or other sources.<\/p>\n

Harms signed the form under penalty of perjury on January 17, 2024.<\/p>\n

The document also required recipients to report changes to listed information, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Harms failed to report income she received for providing childcare.<\/p>\n

Investigators later reviewed financial records, including payments made through Venmo.<\/p>\n

The complaint says those records showed daycare-related income dating back to 2023.<\/p>\n

Investigator Questions Harms<\/h2>\n

Harms spoke with a fraud investigator by telephone in August 2025.<\/p>\n

She reportedly said she received Social Security and earned some money from babysitting.<\/p>\n

Harms allegedly estimated that she earned about $400 each week from childcare.<\/p>\n

She told the investigator that much of the money went toward groceries for the children.<\/p>\n

Harms also acknowledged that she had not reported the babysitting income, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

She reportedly said she did not realize she was enrolled in a social services program.<\/p>\n

She also said she did not understand her income reporting responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Overpayment Alleged At $15,324.30<\/h2>\n

Investigators reviewed Harms’ eligibility file after identifying the alleged unreported income.<\/p>\n

The complaint says she received $15,324.30 in Medical Assistance overpayments.<\/p>\n

The alleged overpayments occurred between March 2024 and September 2025.<\/p>\n

The theft charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n

It also carries a possible fine of up to $20,000.<\/p>\n

The perjury charge carries up to five years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Readers can review Minnesota Statute 609.48<\/a> regarding perjury.<\/p>\n

The state’s theft law is available under Minnesota Statute 609.52<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More court information is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Harms is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Underwood woman faces perjury and theft charges after prosecutors say unreported daycare income led to $15,324.30 in Medical Assistance overpayments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[23203,23201,23204,21532,19497,23202,23200],"class_list":["post-44218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-benefits-fraud-minnesota","tag-denise-carol-harms","tag-false-representation-theft","tag-medical-assistance-fraud","tag-otter-tail-county-court","tag-perjury-charge","tag-underwood-minnesota-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44219,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44218\/revisions\/44219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}