by Dennis Dalman
Adelle Starin, 40, of Sartell is awaiting sentencing for a wire-fraud charge to which she pleaded guilty one year ago in U.S. District Court.
According to U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Lugar, a sentencing hearing will be scheduled soon.
According to information obtained from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Starin perpetrated a fraud scheme through her business known as “Baby’s on Broadway,” which operated two stores – one in St. Cloud, the other in Little Falls. Those shops sold baby products, toys, maternity clothes and strollers.
Investigators determined she submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement to TRICARE, which is a health-care program of the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System. At first TRICARE paid many of those claims, but later decided the claims were ineligible and rejected them. At that point, Starin allegedly expanded her efforts to obtain other sources of revenue for her company. According to documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she then created a company dubbed Sunshine Medical LLC and informed two lenders she needed financing to buy inventory from Sunshine Medical for the Baby’s on Broadway shops. Those two lenders are Liquid Capital Enterprises Corp. and Slope Tech Inc.
However, according to investigators, Sunshine Medical LLC had no business operations or revenue. Thus, Starin allegedly created “faked” Sunshine Medical invoices. She then sent those invoices to the lenders via wire communications in interstate commerce, the criminal complaint alleges.
During the course of her efforts, Starin obtained more than $9 million in financing because of the alleged misrepresentations. The complaint states that wire-fraud activity lasted from 2022 to November 2024.
The case against Starin is the result of an investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Health Agency Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel W. Bobier is prosecuting the case for the United States. Starin could be sentenced to prison for up to 20 years.
