North Ramsey News

A county real estate agent management specialist has been fired and put under criminal investigation following alleged misuse of Ramsey County credit cards. 

According to a public record review by ABC 5, 41-year-old Paul Scharf was arrested in 2019 by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and terminated by the county four months later. The county cited the reason for termination as an internal investigation. 

BCA investigators filed a warrant application in February that explained the allegations. Scharf reportedly used the county credit card to purchase items from the home improvement and hardware store Menard's, then returned the items for store credit and sold the credit on the online marketplace eBay.  

Fraud monitors from the hardware store alerted the BCA of the suspicious activity, and investigators were able to identify $60,000 worth of store credits sold by Scharf. 

Bloggie Wolfie Browender, who interviewed Scharf about his leading position in the Ramsey County 4R abandoned property renovation program, told ABC that he was shocked about the fraud charges against Scharf. 

"He was very passionate, very personable," Browender said to ABC. "I was impressed by him. It's distressing. We have enough shortages of money in St. Paul, in the city, the school district, and Ramsey County to have somebody improperly using funds, illegally using funds, potentially."

The Ramsey County 4R program has three properties listed under current projects, but neighbors to those addresses told ABC that little work had been observed being done there in months or years, with the only activity being the occasional roof work or lawn mowing in the summer. The county declined to interview with the news station, but did comment that the abandoned properties listed in the 4R program are "structurally stabilized."

Scharf has not yet been charged, but the BCA investigators told ABC that the case is "still active and ongoing."