A Traditional Thanksgiving Bounty Of TJ Waconia Court Documents, Including Transcript Of Criminal Sentencing...

Contributed photo, blog post by John Hoff

As I think of all the many things I have to be thankful for, somewhere in the Top 100 has to be the fact the TJ Waconia fraudsters (Thomas Balko and Jonathan Edward Helgason) are locked away in Duluth federal prison where they can't hurt my neighborhood anymore. I hope they are being treated well enough wherever they are, with worn and chipped plastic trays of turkey-like meat and something that might be potatoes but then again, it might be stuffing.

No wait. I think it's supposed to be cranberries.

It was more than a month ago when I subscribed to the federal PACER system at the urging of a local attorney, who wanted me to get my own federal court system documents instead of begging them off him all the time. When I first took a whirl around PACER-o-topia, one of the first cases I wanted to explore was the plea deal and prison sentence for Helgason and Balko...

TJ Waconia Mortgage Fraudster Gets Probation, No Doubt Due To Otherwise Clean Record...

Stock photo, (not a TJ Waconia property) blog post by John Hoff

The Deets blog recently featured an interesting post about Nathan Daniel Jesh, who was the "closer" in the TJ Waconia mortgage/investor fraud case and only received three years probation. I'm trying to be outraged, but my outrage muscle has been strained from far too much use.

One reason Jesh may have received such a light sentence (besides the possibility he cooperated in the investigation) might be his lack of any meaningful criminal record. According to...


...the Minnesota Courts website, Jesh has only been charged with three things: underage drinking, speeding, and improperly tinted windows.

Here are those cases and the results of each:

01-T5-97-002161
CCIT972161
JESH, NATHAN DANIEL
05/02/1977
07/11/1997
Aitkin
Non- Traffic Misdemeanor
Converted Closed
UNDERAGE CONSUMPTION

Fined $50, plus $30 surcharge and $5 costs. Looks like the incident was reported to the Liquor Control Board, meaning whoever served or sold the liquor got in more trouble than young Mr. Jesh. In retrospect, this may have been something of an omen.

19HA-VB-08-3782
RS08001218
Jesh, Nathan Daniel
05/02/1977
08/19/2008
Dakota-Hastings - Criminal/Traffic/Petty
Crim/Traf Non-Mand
Closed
Traffic - Speeding - Exceed Limit 55 mph Where Appropriate 65/55

JNS says: Sixty-five in a fifty-five?

Pussy.

73-VB-09-3081
UJ 04577
Jesh, Nathan Daniel
05/02/1977
04/20/2009
Stearns
Crim/Traf Non-Mand
Closed
Vehicle - Window Restrictions - Tint Too Dark

Otherwise known as "mouthing off to a cop when he says something about how your car windows seem a bit too dark." Convicted.

What is the lesson to be learned, here? That keeping a clean record is invaluable if you intend to pursue a lucrative career in white collar crime. Nathan Daniel Jesh helped destroy the very economic fiber of my neighborhood. Contrast that with a young thug who knocks of a liquor store but doesn't shoot anybody.

Jesh will never see a day in prison. The young thug, in contrast, would probably do some time and then, upon release, begin a downward socioeconomic slide which probably ends with dying in a hail of gunfire on a street corner.

I can't help but be reminded of the lyrics of a Violent Femmes song, "Kiss Off."

I hope you know this will go down on your permanent record/
Oh yeah? Well don't get so distressed/
Did I happen to mention that I'm impressed?

A small side note, here. Like all the other media, this blog has referred to the TJ Waconia debacle as "mortgage fraud." At some point, however, I became convinced it was more accurate to call it a case of "investor fraud."

But after giving the matter some consideration, I'm now convinced it's most accurate to say "mortage/investor fraud."