Denny Hecker's co-defendant Steven Leach reported to the federal prison camp in Duluth on Monday to begin a 27-month sentence for his role in defrauding auto fleet financiers out of $14 million.
Leach will serve his sentence in the same Duluth prison where Hecker, his former boss, is serving his 10-year sentence.
"It was probably not [Leach's] number one choice to be with Denny. But that is what it is," said Leach's attorney Bob Sicoli.
Leach reported to the prison on Monday, one day before his Tuesday deadline.
Sicoli had asked the sentencing judge to recommend that Leach be assigned the Duluth prison, so he could be near his family. The Bureau of Prisons made the final call.
Leach pleaded guilty in October, and was sentenced Feb. 8. He was given until Tuesday to wrap up his personal affairs and report to prison.
Leach insisted that he was only following Hecker's orders when he directed a Hecker Automotive worker to alter loan documents in 2007 that resulted in larger fleet loans than the company deserved.
Leach is the last of Hecker's three co-defendants to be incarcerated. Hecker's ostensible wife, Christi Rowan, was sentenced last week to 14 months in jail for bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud and stealing from Hecker's bankruptcy estate. She is now in the Sherburne County jail and is expected to be sent to a women's prison in Illinois.
