Employee who stole 18 guns from northern Minnesota store in gift card scheme is sentenced to prison

WALKER, MINN. - The owners of Reeds Family Outdoor Outfitters wore their signature red polo shirts to court Monday to see a former employee sentenced to prison for theft.

“We are the team in red,” said Reed’s chief operating officer Andrew Arnold before Ninth Judicial District Chief Judge Jana Austad. Arnold said the case against his former employee Kelsey Rutland is not just about money, “It’s about trust.”

Rutland worked at Reeds for years until investigators found she was the mastermind of a fraudulent gift card scheme, taking dormant or unused gift cards to “buy” firearms for family and friends who thought she was providing them with a discount, not stolen guns.

Prosecutors charged Rutland with 26 felony counts, including firearm theft and racketeering, last September. She pleaded guilty in March to seven theft charges and was sentenced Monday to 2¼ years in prison. Deputies immediately took her into custody.

“It’s an important case for our community, one of the bigger ones,” said Cass County Attorney Ben Lindstrom.

Reeds has been a cornerstone of downtown Walker since 1952, just a few blocks down Main Street from the courthouse.

Over the course of two years, beginning in September 2021 through November 2023, Rutland stole 18 firearms and a variety of gear. She then sold the stolen merchandise, which she customized through her laser engraving business. Products swindled from Reeds and the money paid to Rutland in exchange for the stolen goods totaled $40,700.

Rutland, 39, of Lake George, Minn., apologized to Reeds and said the Arnolds are a good family. She sat silently throughout sentencing with her head down. There was no one in the small courtroom in support of her, only Reeds staff and law enforcement.

Her attorney, Anthony Bussa, declined to comment after sentencing. Bussa had asked Austad to give his client probation, since she didn’t have a criminal record prior to the thefts.

Bussa said Rutland committed the thefts because her self-worth was low from unaddressed mental health problems stemming from abuse she suffered as a kid.

“This came about because of the desire for worth,” he said.

Now she can’t leave the house and can’t find a job, he said.

“If she could pay back Reeds today, she would,” Bussa said. “She wants to make Reeds whole and will try her darndest to make that happen.”

Restitution owed to her former employer is close to $50,000.

Andrew Arnold said he treats his employees like family, so when Rutland asked for a personal loan, they gave her one. Reeds once donated $500 to her charitable cause and gave her a vendor booth at an event in Little Falls, free of charge, but he said “little did we know she was selling stolen goods.”

He asked Austad to make a statement with the sentencing and not give Rutland a slap on the wrist. He said the industry needs to see there are real consequences, especially when it comes to ensuring firearms end up in the hands of lawful owners.

Austad followed state sentencing guidelines, within range of the two to three years Rutland could serve under law. Sentencing guidelines work on a point system that accounts for the severity of the crime and an offender’s criminal history.

“I feel we got what the law permitted,” Lindstrom said.

“This is somebody who took advantage of her employer’s trust. She used deception and was able to hide her actions for a period of several years while she continued to make multiple thefts.”

Most but not all guns in the scheme are accounted for and with eligible owners. The thefts still followed normal store protocol requiring a federal firearms dealer and background check.

That’s exactly how Rutland’s scheme began to crumble.

In November 2023, a firearms dealer denied the transfer of two rifles with some of the fraudulent gift cards.

Reeds owners were alerted of suspicious gift card activity. According to charges, the store’s web team said a man was making a suspicious gift card purchase. In an email thread to several staff members, Rutland identified the man as her brother, got upset and said he wasn’t a thief.

She called in sick the next day, when staff uncovered the paper trail. She never returned to work.

Reeds is no stranger to employee theft.

In 2008, a longtime employee, David Gregoire, was charged in federal court with stealing more than $265,000 worth of merchandise and selling some of it on eBay. He was sentenced to two years in prison.