Title company owner from Chaska pleads guilty in fraud case

Last update: February 21, 2008 - 7:19 PM

A 50-year-old Chaska woman who had owned Profile Title and Escrow Corp. pleaded guilty Wednesday in a federal fraud and money-laundering scheme that siphoned off more than $2.5 million.

Molly L. Heise had been sole shareholder and president of the title company in 2002 and 2003. It primarily closed loans on residential properties.

Profile Title's underwriter, Chicago Title Insurance Co., required the company to deposit its mortgage loan proceeds into an escrow account at Eagle Valley Bank, where they could be monitored.

But Heise secretly diverted substantial sums into an escrow account at EastBank and into an account at U.S. Bank, where she mixed personal and business money.

In June 2002, Heise fraudulently deposited two checks totaling $616,754.25 into the U.S. Bank account. She admitted to withdrawing $66,874.94 to buy a home in Greenfield.

"I understand that I made a very poor judgment. I am deeply and greatly sorry for that," Heise told U.S. District Judge John Tunheim on Wednesday.

Heise allegedly spent more than $2 million on houses, landscaping, a Hummer, a motorhome, a Wisconsin cabin and a boat.

Heise also must pay restitution, but the total amount is still in dispute. Chicago Title sued in Hennepin County District Court and forced Profile Title into a receivership. The receiver liquidated the company and has paid Chicago Title about $1 million, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David McLaughlin, who prosecuted the case.

The former chief financial officer for Profile Title, Christine Hein, pleaded guilty in the case last month. Hein admitted diverting nearly $135,000 from a secret escrow account for a down payment on her home in Buffalo.

The case was investigated by the criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service.

DAN BROWNING

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