A Dollar Bay man was sentenced on Monday for embezzling money using his relationship with an elderly woman. On Monday in Houghton County 12th circuit court Jason Heikkinen was sentenced to serve 180 days, and was ordered to pay back funds in restitution.
Heikkinen, 47 years old of Dollar Bay, developed a relationship with an elderly woman over the years selling her vehicles while employed as a car salesman. After the woman was placed in a nursing home, her bills were managed by a financial institution, that eventually stopped its service to the victim.
With no nearby family, Heikkinen became the victim’s conservator and was then responsible for her finances. Heikkinen took advantage of the situation and was able to put the woman’s home in his name, as well as her financial portfolio, and began to sell her personal property. A bank manager noticed the victim’s account, which had a balance of 70,000 dollars, was quickly drained, and alerted the Michigan State Police.
MSP opened an investigation into the potential fraud and discovered Heikkinen spent over 130,000 dollars of the woman’s money and sold personal property without her knowledge or consent.
Heikkinen will serve 89 days in jail with one day already served. The court will waive the remaining 90 days in jail if Heikkinen adheres to 24 months of probation. He has also been ordered to pay 179,259 dollars in restitution payments. Embezzlement of over 100,000 dollars in the state of Michigan carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in jail and restitution up to three times the value of the money embezzled. Find more details here.
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