UPDATE: Sartell Man’s Fraud Trial Canceled, Plea Hearing Set

CAMBRIDGE (WJON News) -- The trial of a Sartell man accused of swindling an Isanti County woman out of thousands of dollars has been canceled, and a plea hearing has been set.

Forty-three-year-old Travis Peterlin is charged with one count of theft by swindle and two counts of check forgery in Isanti County District Court..

Peterlin is accused of convincing the woman to loan him more than $50,000 to buy a pickup and trailer he never bought. He also allegedly collected checks worth thousands of dollars from the woman for work that was either never done or greatly exceeded what it should have cost.

The woman told an investigator that she felt she was being overcharged but was too embarrassed to tell her children. The woman's power of attorney was not present during the transactions.

Court records indicate the woman was swindled out of more than $143,000.

In two separate cases filed in Stearns County District Court, Peterlin has pleaded guilty to check forgery for bilking an elderly man out of thousands of dollars and theft by swindle for taking down payment money on a bathroom remodel but never doing the work.

Peterlin is charged in Hennepin County District Court, alleging that he used his power of attorney over his vulnerable mother to steal more than $170,000 in cash and buy an $86,000 SUV in her name. That case is still moving through the court system where Peterlin has a plea hearing scheduled for July 17th..