Continued: Dad charged with defrauding soldier son serving in Iraq

After serving his country on active duty for nearly two years, including fighting in Iraq, Minnesota National Guardsman Aeren Nauman returned to Minnesota to find a financial battle waiting.

Authorities say Nauman's father fraudulently racked up debts of nearly $22,000 in his soldier son's name, effectively ruining his credit.

Leonard Gus Nauman, 61, of Long Lake now faces 13 felony counts of aggravated forgery, identity theft and theft by swindle for allegedly forging forms giving himself powers of attorney over his son's finances. He then used the phony documents to open several lines of credit in his son's name while he served overseas, according to the charges filed this week in Hennepin County District Court.

Those credit lines were used to supply thousands of dollars in "loans" to the elder Nauman and his live-in girlfriend, which were quickly spent on mortgage payments, dental bills, utility bills, and at liquor stores and restaurants, said Lt. Michael Murphy of the Wayzata Police Department.

"It looks like it was just daily expenses," Murphy said. "They just didn't have any money."

It's not common, but a number of veterans have encountered such fraud by family members or other acquaintances, said Vietnam veteran Shad Meshad, president and founder of the National Veterans Association. The Los Angeles-based organization provides crisis services for all veterans and their families.

"It's just vile," he said. "This stuff happens and there's really no rhyme or reason to it. Here's financial abuse when it's tough enough just coming back, readjusting and getting your life back on track."

In a similar case earlier this month, Dana M. Kieser was convicted of closing out her husband's retirement and college-savings accounts, forging his name on two checks totaling almost $25,000, and selling their Maplewood home while he was serving in Iraq with the Minnesota National Guard.

According to court documents, Aeren Nauman, 28, reported the fraud to police when he was shown his credit report at an area mortgage office after returning to Minnesota in August 2007. He confronted his father, who admitted that he opened the accounts. When Aeren Nauman asked his father where the money went, Leonard Nauman said the money was used to pay bills.

Murphy said that at one time Aeren Nauman had granted his father limited Power of Attorney to help him with the purchase of real estate while he was overseas. This was unrelated to the separate fraudulent agreements.

Aeren Nauman couldn't be reached Thursday and a telephone listing for Leonard Nauman was temporarily disconnected.

June Walbert, a certified financial planner with USAA, a financial services company tailored toward those in the armed forces, said military personnel can take several precautions to avoid identity theft while serving overseas. Signing up for credit monitoring services is easy, and military judge advocate generals will discuss the benefits and risks of power of attorney. It's also easy to have a financial institution flag accounts for unusual transactions during deployment.

"No one cares about your credit like you care about your credit. You have to think carefully about who you want to use as your agent, and it has to be someone who is truly trusted," she said. "You wouldn't think you would have to do that with a family member, but sometimes you have to take these measures to protect yourself."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

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