Lottery organizer tried to disguise raffles after law enforcement told her to stop all operations
By Kate Northrop
HIBBING, Minn. — A Minnesota woman has allegedly raked in at least $117,000 by operating an illegal lottery on Facebook and tried to disguise further attempts to run it after authorities gave her a hard warning.
Kathryn Jean Deblack, 39, of Hibbing, has been issued multiple charges after she ran an illegal lottery that brought in more than $117,000 over the course of ten months.
She reportedly manipulated over 200 participants to believe that their paid entries were being donated to local charities, but an investigation by officials found that this couldn't be further from the truth.
Deblack made $117,723.57 over a ten-month period.
A criminal complaint says that Deblack initially conducted illegal raffles on a Facebook page called "Iron Range Razzles." The Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) was notified by the Gambling Control Board (GCB) on April 13, 2021 about her activity on social media.
According to Deblack's page, entrants could buy numbered spots to win "brand new items... for a fraction of the price." She selected winners using a random number generator.
The organizer encouraged her own participants to refrain from using any language on the page and in payment apps that would indicate these activities were related to gambling.
"VENMO PAYMENTS NEED TO HAVE AN EMOJI IN THE DESCRIPTION, not raffle please," Deblack wrote in a Facebook post. "I was informed they may lock the account because they may worry about it being gambling."
An investigator had contacted her to inform her that the raffles she was conducting were illegal, but Deblack didn't see it that way. She assured them that the prizes were donated to a nonprofit organization called "Operation 120."
When police reached out to Operation 120 to confirm that Deblack had been following through with her promise, they discovered that she had made only one donation, told the charity that she would look into legal requirements, and had since never been in touch again.
Regardless of whether Deblack was intentionally pleading ignorance, the investigator gave her the benefit of the doubt and closed the case as an "educational matter."
However, on Nov. 24, 2021, the AGED received yet another complaint from the GCB about Deblack's illegal lottery, in which she was accused of selling 100 tickets at $120 per ticket for a chance to win her 2018 Grizzly 700 Special Edition ATV. Participants would submit payments either on PayPal or Venmo, and the first name pulled out of a bucket at random would win the ATV, while the second name would win a runner-up prize of $500. Deblack also promised that she would donate $1,000 to the Schnorr Mudfest. All these details were outlined in a video she posted on her Facebook page.
An investigator contacted Deblack again, and while she denied ever conducting a raffle for the ATV, she later admitted to using the profits to pay off the loan on the ATV and claimed she donated $1,000 to Fishing With Vets.
A board member of Fishing With Vets said in an interview that he knew who Deblack was but never authorized the raffle — the nonprofit preferred to "do things by the book."
"I'm sorry and I just though[t] if profit was given to [charity] it was considered charitable gambling," Deblack wrote in an email to the investigator. "You clarified all that yesterday. What can I do to avoid being in trouble here? I feel sick about this!"
Deblack may not have been as oblivious to the law as she made herself out to be. A search warrant found that, less than four hours before she sent that email to the investigator, she had set up another private Facebook page called "IRR" to continue conducting the illegal gambling activities.
Going by the name "Razz Queen" in her new page, she was continuing to purchase new products and raffle them off for a profit. In one instance, she had 20 people enter at $20 per ticket for an item she bought new at $100.
AGED was notified of the social media activity again in February 2022, which had privacy settings active in an attempt to keep the page hidden.
While she deleted some records of her original Facebook page, police found that Deblack held at least 25 raffles between December 2021 and February 2022, after her second interaction with the investigator. There were 167 group members on her new page.
Deblack was quoted as saying she was "attempting to avoid detection," with much of the discussion topics revolving around how to participate in the lottery without attracting unwanted attention.
In Minnesota, one count of conducting a lottery may deliver a sentence of up to one year in prison and/or a fine of up to $3,000.
She was charged with 12 counts of conducting a lottery, which means she faces up to 12 years in prison and a $36,000 fine.
Deblack is set to appear in court for her first hearing on Oct. 9, 2023.
If she had actually donated all the profit to a charity, along with actually awarding the prize to a winner, would she have been charged?
Woke up from a nap and had to read the year again of HER Grizzly ATV...a 2018 model.
She got caught red-handed thanks in part to her greed and electronic transactions which are hard to cover the tracks.
i'm actually surprised Facebook did not shut her down and suspend her account. And here I thought they knew everything ...lol.
And it was Kathren's turn to host the Church Charity fundraiser, welp she'll be busy making license plates.
That's a great point. Heaven knows I've been in FB jail enough times. Funny first time was for three days. Little did I know their computer times out the 72 hours; went on a few minutes early and zapped with three more days. Longest was one month!
Been there too ! Even worse for me because it was my business page and I have over 200k followers. Three days is a long time and then to catch up . I was actually giving away some free stuff , not taking any money for it. The insane part is that they never fully explain the rule..just that it goes against their standards.
Slow walk to justice.
I think there are more scams on gofundme.
not sure why some folks think they will get away with scams like this. smh.
Did you know that gofundme has a good record for refunding money from scams?
Some folks used them for fake cancer diagnosis. Gofundme when they are made aware of a any scam refunds all of the monies to the unsuspecting donoor!
Stuff like this is going on a lot these days. And, using the so-called cover of a charitable organization. Could be lottery, could be women's shelters, could be anything. Point is, the only goal is to steal. It's a whole me scenario, what about me. It's actually kind of despicable. No matter how many times, they just refuse to stop. No matter the excuses. They hypocrites. Since when is life easy? I must've missed that news story. Get 'em. What is that grand larceny? Minnesota says so. Shoot maybe even racketeer. Who knows. It's in the courts now. Ha
There's go fund me's for everything.
The problem is proving a fake cancer diagnosis on gofundme. Medical records are protected under the law so it is virtually impossible to prove fraud. The burden of proof is on the person claiming fraud.
I was aware of one case where a woman faked cancer and her doctor saw the post and reported the fraud to gofundme. I know of a situation in my sister's neighborhood where a number of people suspect this one woman and her family faked her cancer diagnosis and death. They raised over 200 k. No obit or public notice of death. This woman was scamming from day one in that area and painted herself as Mother Theresa. She was terrible to so many people and a bully. Pretty sure she will buy a property out of state. Hoping if death benefits are claimed, the insurance company will demand proof.
Worked in a hospital setting for 20 years and same for Army 20 years so am quite familiar with HIPAA Federal regulations.
A family member usually rats out a fake from what I understand.
Don't get me started on outright HIPAA violations as far as Covid-19 goes, Dx are not to be plastered on outside doors to patient's rooms but they were. Dx is diagnosis, sorry to you non-medical folks!
Just like with Planned Parenthood, violations left and right. At my hospital instead of Federally prosecuting violators, they would get fired. The fine is up to $250K and or 10 years in a Federal pen. EPIC (My chart) would tell on you. We were told that in our PICU we could look up any information on any of the 26 patients. I never did...why would I? I had enough patients to worry about and never looked up anything but perhaps MRI/CT results once in a blue moon. What made life difficult was the families. Many knew way too much about Johnny clear across the unit. They'd ask me and I tell them you know I can't discuss any of that stuff. Over the years you'd get to know many families more than you'd like.
After I retired one PICU employee was fired for being nosy in EPIC, so much for you can look up any kid there but with that gal I know there's more to the story than am being told and IDC!