Feds have Hecker's girlfriend tossed into jail

Denny Hecker's girlfriend, Christi Rowan, was arrested Wednesday night at the Sherburne County Jail where Hecker is confined.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Volk said she remains in custody there on a federal warrant charging she violated the conditions of her release while awaiting sentencing on fraud charges.

Earlier Wednesday, federal prosecutors had cited her "outrageous conduct," in demanding that she be jailed immediately and for 12 months. They said they had recently learned that she had once again helped scam the bankruptcy court handling the auto mogul's estate.

Rowan had been scheduled to appear in federal court Friday, where she faced up to six months in federal prison after pleading guilty last April to bank fraud and bankruptcy fraud in various schemes designed to aid Hecker.

Rowan, 37, has requested probation. But that is unlikely now. Neither Rowan nor her defense attorney, Janet Newberg, was immediately available for comment.

In a court statement issued late Wednesday, lead prosecutor Nicole Engisch said she recently learned that Rowan violated her plea agreement by withdrawing $9,000 from Hecker's U.S. Bank account and cashing at least $500 from secret dividend checks that Hecker received from Prudential stock. The stock's estimated value is $90,000.

Neither Hecker nor Rowan disclosed the stock or checks to the government as they were required to do, Engisch said. Rowan also ignored an injunction barring her from spending or transferring any of Hecker's bankruptcy estate, Engisch said.

The government believes it will not stop unless Rowan receives a wakeup call from this court," Engisch said.

Besides cashing Hecker's dividend checks and withdrawing U.S. Bank account money, Rowan also illegally spent $3,400 worth of American Express gift cards that Hecker turned over to the FBI in October, the government said.

While Rowan no longer had the gift cards in her possession, that did not stop her from spending some of their cash value, prosecutors said.

Rowan used some of the gift cards by keying in their card numbers online or entering them on mail order purchases, court documents said. On at least one card, Rowan allegedly called American Express, reported the card stolen and requested a new one.

"The call came from the landline at 1615 Northridge Drive" in Medina where Rowan and Hecker recently lived, the government said.

Since April, a federal injunction has barred Rowan from using or transferring any of Hecker's estate property, but that didn't stop her, Engisch said.

Some of Rowan's activities came to light earlier this week, when bankruptcy trustee Randy Seaver filed a motion accusing Rowan of stealing $9,500 from Hecker's bankruptcy estate between November and December.

He said Rowan deposited one of Hecker's secret $1,149 dividend checks as recently as Dec. 30 and withdrew $500 for herself. She also withdrew $9,000 from his old U.S. Bank account between Nov. 29 and Dec. 13, he said.

While Seaver has asked the bankruptcy court to find Rowan in contempt of court, prosecutors want criminal court Judge Joan Ericksen to jail Rowan at the end of her sentencing hearing Friday morning and to sentence her to 12 months in prison.

Rowan has been in trouble with the law before. She was convicted in 2000 of embezzling $14,000 from an Arizona auto dealer who employed her. She was given two years of probation for that crime.

Hecker is in custody after being sentenced Feb. 11 to a 10-year prison term on conspiracy and bankruptcy fraud charges. Rowan was evicted from Hecker's foreclosed Medina mansion on Feb. 1 and now reportedly lives in an apartment.