Ex-Allina Health official charged with embezzling $269,000 from company
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A former vice president of Allina Health was charged with seven counts of theft by swindle Thursday for his alleged role in embezzling more than $269,000 from the company, according to a Commerce Department release.
David Matthew Johnson, 53, of Inver Grove Heights was the vice president of talent and human resources at Allina Health, officials said, and was immediately put on administrative leave following the allegations. He has since been fired.
In May, Allina Health officials became suspicious of Johnson's mileage and personal reimbursement requests. When two employees confronted him about potentially falsifying his requests, he was unable to give an explanation.
The investigation revealed that since 2004 he had embezzled more than $750,000 from the company through false expense reports and mileage reimbursements and using the company credit card for personal use.
Investigators discovered in 2014 he used the credit card to buy season tickets for the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Lynx, Minnesota Wild and the University of Minnesota.
Due to a five-year statute of limitations, he was only charged for crimes committed during that time span.
“We charge numerous employee embezzlement cases every year and it follows a pattern,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said. “The employee is highly trusted and, over time, the good financial safeguards stop being applied to that employee. But no one can predict which employee will let greed get the better of him or her, so those safeguards must be applied to everyone, all the time.”
Johnson is scheduled to make his first court appearance on February 14.