Former Allina VP pleads guilty to embezzling

A former Allina Health vice-president pleaded guilty to four counts of theft by swindle, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, announced Thursday.

David Matthew Johnson, 54, of Inver Grove Heights, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft by swindle over $35,000. Johnson began swindling his employer, Allina, in 2004, but because the statute of limitations is five years, the charges only included thefts since 2013. In that five years, Johnson admitted taking more than $417,000. However, investigators suspect he embezzled closer to $775,000.

In court, Johnson did not elaborate on the charges filed against him, but admitted that from 2004 through 2017, he had committed the crimes detailed in the criminal complaint.

In May, Allina Health officials became suspicious that Johnson, vice president of talent and human resource services, had been submitting false mileage and personal reimbursement requests. They also suspected he had made improper charges to his company credit card. In court Thursday morning, Johnson admitted to all of the details of those allegations.

Allina had turned over much of its information to the Minnesota Department of Commerce Fraud Bureau investigators who pursued the investigation. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office filed seven counts of theft by swindle against Johnson in January.

Johnson will be sentenced on June 6. As part of the plea agreement, the other three counts will be dropped and he will be sentenced to 45 months in prison, as recommended by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.