Chaska woman pleads guilty to money laundering

A Chaska woman pleaded guilty to a money laundering scheme in U.S. District Court today. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office, Molly Heise, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of "engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity."

Heise was indicted last June for the alleged theft of more than $2.5 million from the clients of a real estate closing company.

Heise was the president of Profile Title and Escrow Corp. According to the press release, the corporation accepted wire transfers and check deposits from buyers and lenders to be held in an escrow account for the purpose of closing residential real estate transactions.

According to the press release, in 2002 and 2003, Chicago Title Insurance Co. acted as Profile’s underwriter and required Profile to deposit all funds into one specific escrow account that Chicago Title was monitoring. Heise's plea agreement stated that she caused "substantial sums of borrowed funds to be deposited into another personal account whose existence was unknown to Chicago Title, which Heise then used to pay personal expenses," the press release stated.

"The plea agreement highlights three key transactions in the scheme. On June 3, 2002, Heise fraudulently deposited $114,281.17 of lender funds into the personal account. On June 11, 2002, Heise deposited a lender check from a mortgage company in the amount of $502,473.08 into the same personal account. On June 27, 2002, Heise wrote a check from that personal account in the amount of $66,874.94 payable to cash, which she then used to purchase a home in Greenfield,Minn.," the press release stated. 

Christine Hein, 38, of Buffalo, who served as the chief financial officer of Profile Title, pleaded guilty last month to the same charge as Heise.

A judge will determine Heise sentence, but she could face up to 10 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set yet.