Feds seek 6 months for Hecker's girlfriend

Federal prosecutors recommended Friday that the girlfriend of former auto executive Denny Hecker be sentenced to the full six months of federal prison time she faces because of a "pattern of deception" that included lying under oath and helping Hecker in his bankruptcy fraud scheme.

In her own pre-sentencing papers, also filed with the court Friday, Christi Rowan requested the lower end of the zero-to-six-months range the guidelines call for, noting that she had cooperated with investigators. Rowan also asked for a lenient sentence for the sake of her children, ages 6 and 14. They already are dealing with the family's eviction from Hecker's Medina home by a Feb. 1 deadline, she said. A call to Rowan's attorney was not returned Friday.

Rowan has been the love interest of the fallen auto dealer for more than three years. While Hecker is scheduled to be sentenced to up to 10 years for defrauding auto lenders out of millions and for hiding millions from the bankruptcy court, his girlfriend has been busy breaking the law in her own right, prosecutors said in asking for the maximum sentence.

Prosecutors noted that Rowan pleaded guilty in April to bank fraud and bankruptcy fraud, and admitted falsifying a W-2 form and a vehicle loan application.

The government said Rowan helped Hecker obtain a Range Rover SUV right before he filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. At Hecker's request, Rowan purchased the car in her name and falsified her income and profession in loan applications with Endura Financial Federal Credit Union, court documents said.

She reported making $189,000 a year in 2008 when she only made $72,000. She also claimed on the loan application to be an attorney. At the time she was an account executive for the Gannett Co. Hecker subsequently did not report the Range Rover when he filed for bankruptcy.

Rowan, in her court filing, suggested that she pay Endura restitution of $19,370.

Sentencing guidelines permitted only zero-to-six months because the loss suffered by the credit union "was small," prosecutors said.

"But the crimes committed by this defendant were in no way small -- she blatantly created false documents, lied to a lender and lied under oath. All to help further a large bankruptcy fraud scheme," prosecutors said. "And yet her conduct does not stop there. ... Rowan's deceptive and illegal conduct has been blatant and repetitive," court documents said.

To bolster their argument that Rowan should be put away for as long as possible, prosecutors outlined disturbing behavior going back years. Offenses include a check-kiting scheme Rowan orchestrated last June that resulted in TCF losing money on a $10,000 check; lying on her 2006 tax return to secure a refund; lying during a 2009 deposition that she attended Drake University in Des Moines, and claiming -- after she pleaded guilty last year -- that she was a laid-off Hecker employee who should get unemployment insurance. Her claim was denied.

Facebook harassment

Prosecutors also noted Rowan's 2000 conviction for stealing from the Arizona auto dealer where she worked. At the time, Rowan lied to her probation officer by saying she wanted to move to Minnesota because "her employer was transferring her. The officer then spoke to her employer and learned that the statement was false," court papers said.

In perhaps the most shocking example of deception, prosecutors said, Rowan was released on bond last year after pleading guilty to fraud, but only under the condition that she have no contact with Hecker's ex-girlfriends.

Friday's court documents explain the reason -- Rowan had digitally harassed a former Hecker girlfriend. According to prosecutors, "Rowan created a fake Facebook page in the woman's name and posted a semi-nude photograph of her on the Internet, along with comments suggesting the woman was soliciting sexual activity. Rowan also posted the woman's actual address and phone number. Law enforcement discovered the fake Facebook page and it was removed from the Internet, but not until the victim received frightening phone calls from those who viewed it."

In conclusion, the government said: "A sentence at the top of the guidelines sends a message that those who are involved in the bankruptcy process must abide by the rules of that process."

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725