John Jefferson
U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minn. (Google Maps).
A Minnesota man was indicted on federal charges of felony wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering after he allegedly convinced his elderly neighbor with progressing dementia to adopt him.
Joseph Robinson, 44, appeared in a Minneapolis federal courtroom on Dec. 19 to respond to the charges against him, which he denied. The nine-page indictment outlined a series of financial transactions between Robinson and the elderly man, an 83-year-old referred to in court documents as “Edward S.” The total amount of money that Robinson allegedly took from Edward S. added up to just over $1 million. Investigators from the Hennepin County Adult Protection Agency believe he took even more.
According to the federal indictment, Robinson knew Edward S. since childhood when the two families were neighbors. They later reconnected in 2018 when Robinson was an adult, and he agreed to help Edward S. out with home repairs. In 2021, three years after Edward S. was diagnosed with “mild neurocognitive disorder,” Robinson was legally adopted by Edward S. and referred to Edward S. as his “father” during court proceedings.
The elderly man, who is a retired accountant and widower with one living sibling in Oregon, only became more ill as time went on. By 2023, Edward S. was diagnosed with “full-blown dementia.” All the while, he paid Robinson thousands of dollars for various home renovations.
According to the indictment, Robinson took advantage of the man’s increasingly vulnerable state and “intentionally devise[d] and execute[d] a scheme and artifice to defraud” Edward S. Part of that scheme included allegedly convincing the man to adopt him as his legal son after getting him to designate Robinson his attorney-in-fact.
When Edward S.’s mother died in 2022, leaving her elderly children inheritance money, Robinson allegedly asked his “father” to give him a $138,000 check. (Robinson was only a “minor beneficiary” in Edward S.’s mother’s will.) The indictment stated that Robinson spent most of the money he received from Edward S. on “personal expenses.”
By 2023, when Edward S.’s cognitive decline had progressed significantly, Robinson allegedly convinced him that he was no longer well enough to maintain his collection of European cars. Edward S. transferred the titles of his cars to Robinson, who began to sell them. The title of Edward S.’s now-renovated home was also turned over to Robinson. The same year, Robinson opened up a joint checking account in his and Edward S.’s names and, according to the indictment, allegedly “defrauded” Edward S. out of his own retirement funds.
Hennepin County Adult Protection Services started investigating Robinson in January 2023, and Robinson allegedly told Edward S. to “stop cooperating” with them. By October 2023, a petition for emergency guardianship was filed, taking those rights away from Robinson and freezing Edward S.’s assets.
The indictment stated that the estimated total Robinson allegedly stole from Edward S. amounted to $1,073,000. Hennepin County Adult Protection Services believes that he allegedly stole an additional $1.2 million.
A reporter from KARE, a local NBC affiliate, was in the courtroom for Robinson’s appearance. As the allegations against Robinson were read in court, other defendants present “rolled their eyes and shook their heads at Robinson,” including one alleged gang member facing RICO charges.
In a phone interview, Robinson told KARE, “None of that stuff is true.”
Robinson turned himself in to authorities but was not taken into custody.
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