FREEDOM!!!! Looms Next Month For The T.J. Waconia Fraudsters After A Half Decade Stretch In Federal Prison! Now For The First Time Online, Freely Available To All, Here Is The 109-Page Transcript Of Their Sentencing...(CORRECTION, AUGUST 9, 2014, FREEDOM ONLY LOOMS FOR ONE OF THE FRAUSTERS, THE OTHER IS IN PRISON UNTIL 2016)

Photo contributed by anonymous source at time of the hearing, blog
post by John Hoff 

Click here to view the 109-page transcript of the sentencing hearing from Thomas J. Balko and Jonathan Helgason, the "TJ Waconia" fraudsters who were sentenced to prison for their fraudulent activities involving scores of houses in North Minneapolis.

Thank You, Belatedly, Anonymous Source

A source who said he or she was "cleaning out their office computer" sent me this document, like, I think it was at least a year ago, maybe more. 

But it was only recently I figured out how to make a PDF link for this document. Every other time I tried to make a link I had a problem and I presume it was because the document was LONG and my connection was SLOW. 

Hey, I'm grassroots media. Often enough I freely admit my little technical struggles and why stories got delayed. 

FREEDOM! (Somehow It Was More Inspiring When Mel Gibson Was Shouting It In "Braveheart" Then When Applied To The TJ Waconia Fraudsters) 

Today I had a lot more luck, and it's actually a good and timely day to publish this transcript because freedom (precious, blessed freedom!) looms for...

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...

"GO LIVE WITH YOUR GRANDMOTHER!!!" Humiliating Foreclosure Can Happen To Anybody, Oh Yes, Even Jim Watkins The Anti-Johnny Blogger, Here Is The Story In His Own Words Not Published Until This Moment, PART ONE OF "THE EVIL ANTI-JOHNNY BOOK OF REVELATIONS"

Photo and blog post by John Hoff, writing from a cheap hotel somewhere in Texas. The stars at night are big and bright 
(clap clap clap clap) DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

Like having an icky squashed camel spider on the sole of your army boot, the evil Anti-Johnny blogger Jim Watkins is a minor but annoying part of my colorful and rather high-profile existence. Most times I just ignore his rantings, ravings and vile spewings as the price of a kind of intensely local fame that I myself am responsible for, after all. Mostly, I disregard his comments (some quite scary) that come to my blog on a frequent basis (more than half of which I don't publish) some of which are definitely from Jim, and some I merely SUSPECT are from Jim.

For those who don't know, Jim's freaky obsession with this blogger started because of my writings about the TJ Waconia fraud which severely impacted North Minneapolis right about the time I arrived on the neighborhood scene. Indeed, The Adventures of Johnny Northside has a kind of creation legend which is intimately entwined with the spectacular downfall of TJ Waconia.

Early in 2008, when I was doing research on buying a piece of property in North Minneapolis, I became fascinated with the TJ Waconia fraud case. I began...

I Love My Home In NoMi--Spring Yard Cleaning!

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

So a couple days ago I woke up and found out some nobody in Texas--Jim Watkins, a.k.a. "The DFW Mentor," a.k.a. The "Anti-Johnny," who is the self-described "best friend" of T.J. Waconia fraudster Thomas Balko, now cooling his heels in a federal prison, good riddance--is writing stuff on the internet about the dozen or so trash bags of leaves I had left over in my yard from the fall.

This is the pathetic level to which Jim Watkins has stooped, trying to find something to criticize me over. I have LEAVES IN MY YARD. The shame. And this because I criticized his jailbird friends for the damage they did to North Minneapolis.

I mean, like, I have THE INTERNET to remind me how, oh, I really should put out those bags of leaves which were all crappy and FROZEN TO THE GROUND through the winter, because they were so wet when I bagged them up.

Mi vida loco. I mean, who am I, Tom Cruise that I have tabloid photographers taking pictures of my back yard? If I was in federal prison while my family continued to live in a luxurious lake home, click here, I could understand the fuss, but as it is...no, can't really understand the fuss about a dozen bags of leaves.

Anyway, prompted by THE FREAKING INTERNET, I hauled the leaves to my collection point to get picked up by the City of Minneapolis and become compost. That was when I discovered somebody had taken a bunch of branches and dumped them at my refuse collection point, and the city was leaving me a note to bundle the branches...

Yeah, like I'm going to bundle the branches. More likely I will BURN the branches, when I come back from my long trucking trip and sit around drinking booze with my NoMi homies, plotting further acts of neighborhood revitalization. Speaking of which...

I am thinking of writing to the State of Minnesota Parole Board about Thomas Balko and, while I'm at it, Jon Helgason. I mean, think about it. Here's this guy who did so much to harm our North Minneapolis neighborhood, and now he sits in prison, but his self-described "best friend" Jim Watkins (the evil Anti-Johnny) is pouring all kinds of energy into mocking and razzing folks trying to change the neighborhood for the better. I find it hard to believe Thomas Balko doesn't know what Jim Watkins is doing while Balko is cooling his keister in the can. And what does that tell us?

Lack of remorse. So the bastard should stay in prison as long as possible, and NOT get any kind of early parole. And I think it might be good to start coordinating a letter writing campaign to that effect, if I have to make a point of giving out the postage stamps my damn self while my friends write letters.

These are the things I think about while hauling garbage bags of leaves to my alley.

At least my yard work isn't BORING.

(Blogging from Lapaneer, Michigan)

Lifestyles Of The Rich And Fraudulent--Thomas Balko, The T.J. Waconia Fraudster, Lived In This Half Million Dollar Home!

Photo By John Hoff

After finding the secluded, deluxe lake home of imprisoned T.J. Waconia fraudster John Helgason, click here for that story, I thought it was only fair to track down the opulent former digs of the OTHER T.J. Waconia fraudster, Thomas Balko. Like Jon Helgason, Balko is also cooling his heels in federal prison in Duluth.

Unlike Jon Helgason--who apparently managed to create an LLC "holding company" and place a luxurious lake home in its assets, so his family could continue to reside in comfort--Thomas Balko's family does not appear to still reside at this lovely home, located at 12815 Island View Circle, Rogers, Minnesota. The house is located at the end of a cul-de-sac and is, arguably, one of the nicest homes amid homes which are all quite nice.


The property appears to be occupied by a family with a different surname and is no longer in the hands of anybody with the name "Balko," but this information is tenuous and unconfirmed. Anybody who has further info is welcome to forward that info via the comments function.

The house has been in foreclosure and, as of December 19, 2009...

It was listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as being for sale for 499,900. The house has 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, and is a single family house.

I hope whoever gets the house enjoys the heck out of it and becomes aware of its interesting history. For a period of time, that house was supported on the bleeding back of North Minneapolis. Let's hope the next owner is honest and deserving.

JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Images Of The Teary Aftermath Of The TJ Waconia Mortgage Fraud Sentencing

Photos By Anonymous Contributor


An individual who was at the sentencing hearing for the T.J. Waconia fraudsters--Thomas Balko and Jon Helgason--snapped some photos outside the courtroom with a cell phone camera.

No image of Thomas Balko and Jon Helgason has, to my knowledge, been published in the media to date. Yesterday the Star Tribune made a valiant effort to get a photo, but failed. Where the STrib falls short...

Johnny Northside blog and my network of helpful readers/contributors comes through.

It should be noted, here: the prosecutor said these are not "evil" men, and they have friends and supporters who love them. Nobody wins, here, but maybe North Minneapolis gets a little better instead of a little worse when there are consequences for fraudulent real estate schemes.

Also, just to be clear: I DID NOT TAKE THESE PICTURES. In fact, I was forwarded a very nice image of MYSELF taken with the same cell phone camera, good enough to use for online dating, in fact.

Thanks, oh-so-anonymous contributor, you know who you are and I appreciate your help!

(Note: help needed to confirm the identity of which individual is Balko, which one is Helgason)