Stole Nearly $500,000 from Cognitively and Physically Impaired Widow
A
Waterloo woman who used a power of attorney to defraud a disabled
elderly widow of nearly $500,000 was sentenced on June 25, 2021, to more
than five years in federal prison. Kimberly Ann Henny, age 54,
received the prison term after an August 5, 2020 guilty plea to one
count of wire fraud.
Evidence presented at Henny’s sentencing showed that Henny operated
Healing Harvest Ministries (“HHM”) in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area.
HHM was a charitable and religious organization that provided services
to Medicaid recipients. In 2014, however, the Iowa Medicaid program
discovered that HHM lacked required accreditation, suspended HHM, and
ordered Henny to repay over $200,000 in Medicaid moneys. An FBI agent
testified at Henny’s sentencing hearing about other irregularities at
HHM, including alleged “exorcisms” performed on clients and failures to
pay wages and withhold taxes.
Henny admitted that, between 2014 and 2016, she stole $494,724.12
from her victim, an elderly widow who lived in an assisted living
facility and later a nursing home. Henny’s victim had dementia, was
legally blind, and had difficulty hearing. United States District Court
Judge C.J. Williams, who sentenced Henny, observed at Henny’s
sentencing that Henny’s victim was “highly vulnerable” and perhaps one
of the most vulnerable victims he had seen in a case.
As part of her fraud scheme, Henny used a power of attorney to gain
access to her victim’s bank accounts and annuities. The victim already
had a power of attorney in favor of one of the victim’s children, who
lived out of state. In 2015, however, knowing that the victim clearly
lacked the capacity to understand her actions due to severe cognitive
and physical disabilities, Henny obtained a power of attorney over her
victim’s finances. Henny then began transferring and spending the
victim’s funds for her own purposes. The power of attorney form
required Henny to act loyally for the victim’s benefit and not to make
any gifts to herself, but Henny used the power attorney to drain her
victim’s accounts and cash out her annuities, and then to make purchases
for Henny’s own benefit, including a vacation, hair and spa expenses,
and for rent and furniture.
In November 2018, state authorities arrested Henny on related
criminal charges. The next month, Henny entered into a stipulation in a
divorce proceeding, which Judge Williams found was a “sham divorce,”
that awarded Henny $90,000 in retirement benefits. Over a four-month
period in 2019, Henny transferred the $90,000 to other accounts she
controlled, including a prepaid debit card, and then spent the funds.
In addition, after she pled guilty in federal court, Henny understated
to the probation office certain COVID-19 related unemployment benefits
she was receiving from the government.
Henny was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court
Judge C.J. Williams. Henny was sentenced to 70 months’ imprisonment.
She was ordered to make $494,724.12 in restitution to her victim’s
children. She must also serve a three-year term of supervised release
after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Henny
was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the
Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.
In 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern
District of Iowa was selected as one of 10 districts in the nation to
form an Elder Justice Task Force (http://go.usa.gov/cSngj).
The task force was assembled to foster a collaborative working
relationship among all levels of government officials, advocacy groups
for the elderly and the disabled, and others charged with the care and
protection for these vulnerable groups. The goals include ensuring the
integrity of all government expenditures by eliminating fraud, waste,
and abuse in health programs, and protecting some of the state’s most
vulnerable citizens from harm, whether it occurs in nursing homes or
other institutions or involves financial fraud schemes. To learn more
about the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative, visit: https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tim
Vavricek and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Waterloo Police Department.
The United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General,
assisted the investigation.
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