Faking Medtronic Nicknacks Nets CA Woman 45 Months in Prison

A California woman will spend nearly four years behind bars for selling key chains, baseball caps and shirts to Fridley-based Medtronic, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota. 

U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schlitz sentenced Jennifer Rutherford, 40, of San Jose, on one count of wire fraud Friday. 

Rutherford admitted to a five-year scam in which she used her position as a senior marketing manager for a firm bought by Medtronic to fake the purchase of items from three shell companies she set up.