Eviction: More financial issues for child care owner

Add nearly $30,000 in unpaid rent to the list of money reportedly owed by the owner of a local child care center.
Jillaine Mertens, of Hamel, operated Creative Stars Academy I and Creative Stars Academy II, which provided child care for families in Rochester and Kasson, respectively. The Kasson location was 301 Mantorville Ave. S, Suite 400.
Late last month, Mertens was federally charged with one count of wire fraud. She is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $425,00 in funding from a state program that was designed to support the child care industry and educators with supplemental pay.
That pay was based on the number of staff who regularly cared for children in the program.
Mertens allegedly inflated the number of hours worked by teachers and staff, as well as made false applications to the program for 23 employees who did not work for her.
She received the fraudulent payments from November 2024 through May 2025, the criminal complaint says.
In October 2025, a civil suit was filed against Mertens and her Kasson learning center, initiating eviction proceedings.
According to that complaint, “Tenants have failed to pay rent and operating costs in the total amount due of $29,977.80” from August 2025 through Oct. 1, 2025.
The rent was $6,800 per month; other expenses due were common area maintenance, electricity, gas and garbage.
Despite the eviction filing, Creative Stars remained in the space until the first week of June — after the federal case was announced — though children were no longer present.
An eviction hearing was set for June 9 in Dodge County District Court; on June 5, Mertens filed a request for a continuance.
“On June 9 at 10 a.m. I am working and I am unable to get this off, my job is very specific and I am needed and they could not find a replacement,” Mertens wrote. “My next availability to be able to have a court date would be June 15. I have already discussed with the owner that everything will be out of the center by June 14.
“I would greatly appreciate this as I also need to work to receive income to support my children,” she concluded.
Judge Jeffrey Kritzer denied both the request and the continuance on June 8. The eviction hearing continued as scheduled June 9.
Kritzer’s final order in the case had not been filed as of June 15.