Hong Zhang, a 40-year-old Chinese national from Queens, is jailed in Dakota County on $500,000 bail after investigators allege he traveled from New York to collect cashier’s checks stolen from an elderly St. Paul man in a $670,000 fraud. Police say Zhang drove a BMW X5 with New York plates to a vacant Lakeville home, retrieved a parcel from the porch and was stopped as he left. Investigators say the vehicle and residences connected to Zhang contained fraudulent identification, bank documents and more than $2 million in uncashed checks, suggesting the allegations may extend beyond the Lakeville victim.
Court documents describe a rapid response after the St. Paul man’s daughter reported the suspected theft to police on September 10. According to the Pioneer Press, the man had sent two cashier’s checks by overnight delivery to the Lakeville address that day. Lakeville police monitored the vacant property and stopped Zhang after he collected the parcel, according to the newspaper’s account and the court documents. FedEx could not intercept those checks because they were already out for delivery, but it stopped another package addressed to the same construction company and Lakeville address after Alex Johannes contacted the company.
What Investigators Found in the BMW
Zhang was charged September 11 with aiding and abetting felony theft by swindle over $35,000. The Dakota County charge is under Minnesota Statute ยง 609.52. Investigators searching the BMW reported finding six cellphones, bank deposit slips, cashier’s checks totaling $68,760, $54,000 and $149,000, and a $120,500 Bank of America wire-transfer receipt. They also reported recovering four New Jersey driver’s licenses bearing Zhang’s photograph under apparently false names, along with four matching Social Security cards.
Zhang told investigators he was in Minnesota on a business trip and had simply been asked to pick up packages sent to the wrong address, per an affidavit cited in the Pioneer Press report. But according to a criminal complaint, he later admitted he knew he was collecting cashier’s checks that were not addressed to him. He said he was staying at an Airbnb in Richfield, and investigators later gathered five packages from that residence, including two found outside by Richfield investigators containing cashier’s checks totaling more than $550,000.
Related Cases and Reporting Options
The allegations also fit a broader pattern in which couriers collect proceeds in person. The Justice Department’s elder-justice case appendix lists a separate federal case, 2:24-cr-00387-SPG, in which a defendant was arrested at victims’ Encino residence while attempting to retrieve $35,000 from two older victims. The case differs from the Lakeville allegations in its location, amount and reported federal case status. National Internet Crime Complaint Center figures also require caution: according to the FBI’s 2024 IC3 Annual Report, complainants are not required to provide an age range, limiting how directly the totals can be interpreted as measurements of elder fraud. For families in Dakota County, suspected maltreatment of a vulnerable adult can be reported to the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center at 1-844-880-1574 or online, according to Dakota County Adult Protection. The county advises calling 911 when someone faces immediate danger.
A Basement Bedroom Full of Fake IDs
A search of a basement bedroom at the property turned up 11 New Jersey driver’s licenses bearing Zhang’s picture under different names, 11 matching Social Security cards, and 12 debit cards. A backpack in the room contained envelopes similar to those found inside the BMW. Minnesota Secretary of State paperwork filed September 2 shows two purported businesses were incorporated with addresses in Shoreview and Inver Grove Heights, filings investigators are examining as part of the broader case…