A former federal Homeland Security law enforcement officer in Alaska was sentenced Monday in Anchorage to serve seven years in prison for sexual assault and harassment involving a number of women he encountered at work. The charges he faced involved at least four women. He pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sexual assault and one count of harassment earlier this year. Heitstuman will not be able to work in law enforcement or security again.
Two women described Heitstuman as a man who used the power of his badge as a weapon against them. His actions and threats left me in a constant state of fear, a state of fear that still affects me to this day.
Heitstuman apologized before the judge handed down the sentence, saying he betrayed his profession and never meant to hurt anyone. Heitstuman was indicted in on five counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree attempted sexual assault. The February plea deal dismissed all but one of the sexual assault charges. The felony sexual assault charge stemmed from incidents between July and December involving three women with whom Heitstuman engaged in sexual contact without their consent, according to charges updated in February.
Others related to a period during which Heitstuman worked as a security officer at the Dimond Center mall, police said at the time. McKenna said the sentence handed down this week was a minimum a judge could impose in but now is closer to the maximum for second-degree sexual assault: 15 years with three suspended. The judge said the only similar case he could think of involved Anthony Rollins, a former Anchorage police officer convicted in of forcing women to perform sex acts or sexually touching them while on duty.
Rollins was sentenced to 87 years following a trial on numerous sexual assault charges. This case was different, however, because it involved a plea agreement prompted in part by pandemic-related delays , only one sexual assault charge, and some incidents more than 10 years old. All plea agreements involve some level of compromise, prosecutor Matt Heibel said during the hearing. In this case, the agreement brings certainty and closure, Heibel said.
