LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says three people have pleaded guilty to identity theft, fraud and forgery in a more than half-a-million-dollar unclaimed property fraud scheme.
Nessel said Averill Dintaman, 46, and Daniel Nolan, 51, both from Mount Pleasant and Dwayne Johnson, 59, from St. Louis, stole the identity of the victim and forged a power of attorney document in order to steal an unclaimed property check worth $579,551.99 in 2022. She said Johnson posed as the victim in person at the Michigan Department of Treasury’s Unclaimed Property Office to get a second copy of the check.
They were originally charged in May of this year.
Accord to a November 17 release, these are the exact charges each of the defendants pleaded guilty to:
Dintaman pleaded guilty on October 30 to:
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit False Pretenses over $100,000, a 20-year felony;
- One count of Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony;
- One count of Forgery, a 14-year felony; and
- One count of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, a 10-year felony.
Nolan pleaded guilty on November 14 to:
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit False Pretenses over $100,000, a 20-year felony;
- One count of Forgery, a 14-year felony; and
- One count of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, a 10-year felony.
Johnson pleaded guilty on November 14 to:
- One count of Attempted False Pretenses over $100,000, a 5-year felony;
- One count of Counterfeiting/Forging/Using a State Identification Card to Commit a Felony, a 5-year felony; and
- One count of Identity Theft, a 5-year felony.
Dintaman is expected to be sentenced of December 11, 2025. Johnson on January 15, 2026 and Nolan on January 22, 2026.