ABOUT
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John K. Heffner, CFE
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History and Relics, LLC
Owner, Collector and Investor
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John K. Heffner is the youngest of three children born to Ellen L. and Robert W. Heffner. His Mother, originally from Ravenna, Ohio was a homemaker but her familial roots ties to likes of educators and entrepreneurs alike. His Father was from Morgantown, West Virginia and was a Son of a coal miner who grew up to be one himself until moving to Warren, Ohio and working the majority of his life as a steel mill worker.
John grew up in Cortland, Ohio and was a 1989 graduate of Lakeview High School. He began his professional career in the early 1990’s working as a police officer for the Cortland Police Department while also attending Kent State University studying Criminal Justice and Paralegal Studies. As a police officer, John enjoyed taking advanced courses in traffic accident investigation and use of force and liability. He was also offered the opportunity to assist in a re-opened cold case to review facts surrounding one of Cortland’s only double homicide cold cases.
By 1996 John had left law enforcement, graduated college with an Associates of Arts and a Paralegal Certification, and started his first stint as a Legal Assistant with the environmental law firm of Alden, Aronovsky & Sax in San Francisco, California. Shortly thereafter, John returned to Ohio and began work in Cleveland as a Worker’s Compensation Docket Coordinator for Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. and later as a Conflict Clearance Assistant for Baker & Hostetler. In 1999 John landed a Legal Assistant position at Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co. LPA. within their real estate/foreclosure area and helped to build out their third-party foreclosure representation practice.
By the end of 2003, John moved on to AmTrust/Ohio Savings Bank and continued his work in their real estate/foreclosure area. While the Bank was a mortgage lender in all 50 states, their most complex foreclosure portfolio involved properties in New York and New Jersey of which John became very familiar with. Identifying mortgage fraud became John’s forte which soon got him promoted to the Bank’s Special Investigation’s Unit in 2005.
In 2008, he became a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) through the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) as well as a member of its local Northeast Ohio Chapter. By 2009, AmTrust/Ohio Savings Bank would fail but the name survives under New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) who acquired the Bank from the FDIC for its deposits and real estate division. John continued working up through the ranks and became the Manager of the Special Investigation’s Unit in 2011. In 2014, he was elected to a Co-President role at the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (NEOACFE).
Midway through 2017, New York Community Bancorp sold its residential mortgage division. At that point, John became a Second Vice President and Manager within New York Community Bancorp’s Bank Secrecy/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Department before departing the bank in early 2020. During this same time, John moved into the role of President at the NEOACFE and helped the non-profit organization achieve 6th Place globally (4th Nationally) for 2019’s Chapter of the Year out of nearly 200 chapters worldwide through the great training and community programs it sponsors and provides.
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From 2020 to 2021 John worked for CrossCountry Mortgage. Today, John continues his great investigative work in the corporate financial sector as the Director of Investigation for Freedom Mortgage Corporation.
In his spare time, John enjoys traveling with his Wife Dana, conducting genealogy and other historical research particularly military research, playing guitar, and collecting vintage baseball memorabilia.
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Memberships, Affiliations, and Contributions:
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Member and former President of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Northeast Ohio Chapter #13.
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Honorary Member of the Wayne County Museum Board. Waynesboro, Tennessee.
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Member of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio
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Inaugural Member of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. Columbus, Ohio.
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Member of the Yankee Air Museum. Belleville, Michigan.
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Member of the Massillon Museum (MassMu), Massillon, Ohio.
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Contributor to the Scotts Run Museum and Trail. Osage, West Virginia.
Member and contributing author with the Titanic International Society.
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Contributor to the 2021 documentary film "War On The Diamond" .