Former Bloomington man sentenced 6.5 years for embezzling $500,000 from elderly Peoria woman

Posted on November 18, 2019
Court gavel
Timothy Herman was sentenced Friday in Peoria federal court for defrauding the elderly woman of $500,000. (Photo courtesy Flickr/Brian Turner)

 

By Neil Doyle

PEORIA – A man, formerly from McLean County, has been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for embezzling $500,000 from an elderly Peoria woman.

Timothy Herman, 59, of Mesa, Arizona, formerly from Bloomington, was sentenced Friday in Peoria federal court for defrauding the elderly woman of $500,000, according to a news release Monday. He was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $509,325.  Herman will remain on supervised release for five years following his release from prison.

Following a bench trial in March, Herman was convicted of engaging in the fraud scheme from 2013 to December 2017, and making false statements to federal agents. According to the release, Herman befriended the elderly woman through her church, offered the victim an investment opportunity, but instead of investing the funds, Herman used the victim’s money for his own use.

He was also convicted for making false statements about his conduct to law enforcement officers and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service when he was interviewed in December 2017.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

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