A Waterloo woman who used a power of attorney to defraud a disabled elderly widow of nearly $500,000 was sentenced on June 25, 2021, to more than five years in federal prison. Kimberly Ann Henny, age 54, received the prison term after an August 5, 2020 guilty plea to one count of wire fraud. Evidence presented at Henny’s sentencing showed that Henny operated Healing Harvest Ministries (“HHM”) in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. HHM was a charitable and religious organization that provided services to Medicaid recipients. In 2014, however, the Iowa Medicaid program discovered that HHM lacked required accreditation, suspended HHM, and ordered Henny to repay over $200,000 in Medicaid moneys. An FBI agent testified at Henny’s sentencing hearing about other irregularities at HHM, including alleged “exorcisms” performed on clients and failures to pay wages and withhold taxes. Henny admitted that, between 2014 and 2016, she stole $494,724.12 from her victim, an elderly widow who lived in an assisted living facility and later a nursing home. Henny’s victim had dementia, was legally blind, and had difficulty hearing. United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams, who sentenced Henny, observed at Henny’s sentencing that Henny’s victim was “highly vulnerable” and perhaps one of the most vulnerable victims he had seen in a case.
