Edina financial advisor pleads guilty to identity theft, draining account

An Edina financial advisor pleaded guilty to identity theft in a case in which he drained $220,000 out of an 88-year-old stroke victim’s annuity account, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

John Heath, 45, pleaded guilty to the single count of identity theft in a hearing Monday. A second count of theft by swindle will be dropped at his sentencing. Additionally, a second case in which he swindled thousands of dollars from an 83-year-old woman will be dropped. Because of the second case, however, Heath agreed to a prison term of 41 months, which he is expected to receive at a Dec. 16 hearing.

“Everyone involved in this case did a good job, from employees at Wings Financial who saw irregularities, to the Robbinsdale police and the Minnesota Department of Commerce investigators,” Freeman said. “Sadly, Mr. Heath wanted to live a lifestyle his income could not support, so he preyed on a man who trusted him and who Heath knew was in poor mental and physical health. It is despicable and now he will pay the price.”

According to the criminal complaint and the admissions Heath made during his guilty plea, Heath had been the financial advisor for the victim for nearly two decades. The victim suffered a stroke in 2013 and has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

In 2008, Heath helped the man set up an annuity account with Jackson National, which grew to $220,000. In January 2015, a service request form was submitted to Jackson National. It had the man’s name, as well as his social security number, date of birth and contract number. The form asked that the man’s information be updated to include a home address along with an email address of hereistrouble1@gmail.com. According to the complaint, both addresses belong to Heath.

Heath then opened a checking account at Wings Financial, using the man’s social security number, birthdate and driver’s license number, all of which Heath had through his work as the man’s financial advisor. However, the home address, email address and home phone number were all Heath’s. According to the complaint, the man had no idea the account was set up.

Last September, Heath took out $18,500 from the annuity and made a deposit into the phony Wings account. He made several other withdrawals, before finally taking out the final $194,172 to close out the annuity in October, according to the complaint.

Because Heath controlled the Wings account, he would then make ATM withdrawals or write checks to himself or to his credit card company. Until Wings became suspicious and froze the checking account on Jan. 20, 2016, Heath used the money to pay more than $20,000 on his credit card bill and withdrew more than $30,000 in cash. He also used it to purchase more than $2,500 worth of merchandise from Target, the complaint said.