Jason Heikkinen

HOUGHTON — A Houghton County man will spend more than two months in jail and pay more than $175,000 in restitution following sentencing Monday on embezzlement charges.

Jason Heikkinen, 47, of Dollar Bay, was sentenced in 12th Circuit Court Monday on one count of Embezzlement – Personal Relationship of Trust with Vulnerable Adult, a felony.

The case developed over several years, and began when Heikkinen worked at a local auto dealership, where he developed a relationship with an elderly woman while selling several vehicles owned by her.

When the woman became a resident of a local nursing facility, her bills were being managed by a financial institution, an arrangement which subsequently stopped. With no nearby family to assist her, Heikkinen became her financial conservator — for a fee.

It was alleged in that position, Heikkinen placed the woman’s financial portfolio, including investments, savings and her home, into his own name and began selling her personal property.

At some point, authorities said, Heikkinen went through the woman’s home, removing items, which he then sold for his own profit. These included her late husband’s tools, gun collection and her wedding ring. These actions were allegedly done without the victim or her family’s knowledge or permission.

During Monday’s sentencing, Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Helmer allowed the victim’s sister, Betty Hughes, to speak. Hughes gave a detailed description of Heikkinen’s behavior and actions, along with discussing the impact it had on the victim and her family. Hughes said, among other things, Heikkinen insisting no family members visit her sister if he was not present.

At the hearing, Heikkinen apologized.

“I’m very sorry that I didn’t do a better job,” he said. “I’m sorry to the family. I’m sorry to my dear friend … “ he said. “I will always love (her) and I’m sorry for my actions. They were not my intentions to hurt her. Most of what I did remove … I tried to remove most of the garbage and stuff that would be of no value to anybody.”

During the sentencing, Circuit Court Judge Brittany Bulleit addressed Heikkinen, saying she could not say anything better than the sister of the victim had said in her statement.

“It gave me a very good overview of the impact this has had on the victim,” Bulleit said. “I hoped you really listened to that, because something I learned during that is that it sounds like (she) was even more vulnerable than other victims. She didn’t even know how to write a check at that point.”

Judge Bulleit said she felt Heikkinen committed more than he apologized for, but added she did not doubt his remorse.

“But someone put their trust in you,” she told Heikkinen, “and you took advantage of that trust over and over and over again. And you didn’t just prey on her finances, you placed yourself on the deed to her home. You placed yourself as a beneficiary. You took prized possessions – including a wedding ring – and sold them for monetary value for your own benefit.”

Bulliet said that Heikkinen took from the victim her life savings, along with her ability to feel safe.

“And I just heard you call the items that you got rid of ‘garbage,'” she said. “Where, is it your position to say that anything that belonged to her was garbage, still today?”

Bulleit said that she does not believe Heikkinen understands the damage done to the victim and her family.

Heikkinen’s actions involving the victim’s assets caught the attention of Range Bank in 2023, as personnel there noticed her account dropped from $70,000 to nearly nothing. Michigan State Police Calumet Post handled the investigation.

That investigation showed that Heikkinen had spent more than $130,000 of her money.“You basically came into her life and tried to take it all away,” Bullleit said. “You isolated her from her family. You were going to take all of her things when she passed away.”

“You kept going to the sound of $179,250, and it sounds like that’s not including whatever could have been sold from the house and the value it had, so that’s not even all of it.”

Heikkinen’s attorney, Matthew Eliason, argued against Heikkinen receiving jail time due to his health. He suggested house arrest as an alternative.

Bulleit said the due to the nature of Heikkinen’s actions, a jail sentence was warranted.

As a result of a plea agreement, Heikkinen’s sentence included a 180-day jail sentence, with credit for one day served, requiring 89 days to be served beginning on the sentencing date. The remaining 90 days will be served if his probation conditions are violated. He was also sentenced to 24-month probation, and must pay restitution of $179,250.

The victim’s sister, Hughes, said she was satisfied with the sentencing decision.

“He stole the gun case with all the guns in it,” she said. “That’s not junk.”

“Within weeks of being made the victim’s Durable Power of Attorney, he listed himself as 85% beneficiary Hughes said, adding that the family does not know the full amount of what was stolen, including the victim’s investments and dividends, because Heikkinen had also taken all the paperwork.

“Range Bank was wonderful,” said Hughes. “Range was the one that told the police to call me, because they found something was going on. They were seeing the money flowing out of my sister’s account, and they’re saying: ‘Why? She’s in a bloody nursing home, she spending all this money.'”