Woman, 70, accused in theft of $7K in ginseng

Duluth police arrested a 70-year-old woman accused of hatching a plan to steal about $7,2000 worth of ginseng to get back at a former business partner.

Young Sook Lee used an accomplice posing as a customer responding to a Korean newspaper ad for ginseng, police said in an incident report.

Ginseng is a perennial herb used for medicinal purposes.

The victim, who sells ginseng and other nature products and also owns U.S. Diamond Dental, agreed to meet the accomplice behind a fountain at the Park Village shopping center on Oct. 19, Duluth police said.

“They were parked sort of next to each other with a scale in the middle,” Officer Ted Sadowski told Channel 2 Action News.

The victim told police he didn’t know the woman, but he thought she was a legitimate customer. After she showed him an envelope of money and put it in her pocket, he took 20 pounds of ginseng out and weighed it, Sadowski said.

The woman then put the ginseng in her trunk and drove off toward Hills Drive, according to the incident report.

“The victim then gets into his car and chases (the car) throughout the parking lot,” Sadowski said.

The victim told police he eventually lost the woman’s vehicle in the thick parking lot traffic.

Investigators used the video to get a tag number and link it to Lee, police said. They then issued a theft warrant for her arrest.