Classy Dame owner get jail time for fraud

Business will continue at The Classy Dame, but Terry M. Heitman, owner of the upscale women's clothing retailer, is off limits.

U.S. District Judge Dick Dorr sentenced Heitman on June 3 to three years, 10 months in federal prison without parole and three years of supervised release for a fraud scheme in which Heitman stole the identities of other persons in order to obtain more than $24,000 in unauthorized credit card charges.

The judgment restricts Heitman's involvement with The Classy Dame operations and orders restitution to three national credit card companies and Great Southern Bank.

The Classy Dame is in the process of moving from the Brentwood Center to Kelly Plaza, where it plans to reopen later this month, Heitman said in court. Business operations fall to Heitman's 81-year-old mother, Bettie.

Dorr granted Heitman, 44, four weeks bond to help his mother reopen the store.

Heitman is to surrender to federal authorities July 2. The prison location, determined by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons, is unknown at this time.

The Class C felonies carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release and restitution, according to the plea agreement Heitman signed Feb. 24.

Despite a criminal history Dorr characterized as "the highest level on the chart," Heitman received a lesser penalty in part because he cooperated with federal agents and provided information that led to a search warrant for a suspect in another case, according to federal prosecutor David Jones.

Dorr said he waived the federal fines because Heitman is restricted from his only source of income, The Classy Dame, and he was concerned that restitution would not be met. Restitution payments will be $100 monthly or 10 percent of income, whichever is greater.

Also per the judgment, Heitman cannot open credit card or checking accounts and cannot be self-employed or operate credit card devices during his three years of supervised release.

Only after permission from the probation office can Heitman resume such business activity.

Federal prosecutor Jones was pleased with the sentence.

"It's a hard sentence," he said following the verdict. "He can't work at any type of business where he is handling transactions."

Victim Mary Oosterhuis of Ozark, who testified at the sentencing, questioned if the sentence was hard enough, based on Heitman's past.

According to prosecutors, Heitman's criminal history runs 14 convictions deep, two of them for using false credit cards. Other convictions were for writing bad checks (nine times), stealing, receiving stolen property and assault.

This will not be his first stint in federal prison. The Bureau of Prisons Web site states Heitman was released from federal prison May 27, 1993, after serving a three-year sentence.

Heitman was indicted Dec. 18 and pled guilty in February to two counts of credit card fraud. He admitted using unauthorized credit cards in Greene County on two separate occasions between Feb. 26, 1999, and Feb. 17, 2000, and between Aug. 17, 2000, and June 28, 2001.

The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case.

Heitman could potentially get a 10 percent sentence reduction, or four months off, if he demonstrates good behavior in prison.

Heitman said he committed these acts "to keep the business going."

According to Oosterhuis' testimony, as a worker at Classy Dame, she surmised that it stayed in business by defaulting payment to small manufacturers that shipped clothing to the store. Phone calls from clothing manufacturers seeking payment were common, she told the court.