Former Anchorage Homeland Security Officer Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault

A former federal Homeland Security law enforcement agent in Alaska was sentenced Monday in Anchorage to seven years in prison for sexual assault and harassment involving a number of women he met at work.

Bert Christopher “Chris” Heitstuman, 54, was accused of a series of sexual assaults dating back to 2011 while he worked at locations including the federal building in Anchorage. The charges against him involved at least four women. He pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sexual assault and one count of harassment earlier this year.

At Monday's hearing, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Jack R. McKenna called Heitstuman a “serial predator” before handing down a sentence of 13 years, six of which were suspended, and 10 years of probation. probation with certain conditions, including treatment and registration of sex offenders, as well as no contact with many victims. Heitstuman will no longer be able to work in law enforcement or security.

“There were a series of brazen attacks on women who were rendered even more powerless by the position he held and the role he played as a member of law enforcement,” said McKenna.

Two women described Heitstuman as a man who used the power of his badge as a weapon against them.

“Being a target hurts,” one of them said into the microphone before sitting down in tears. “My heart aches for… everyone he met.”

In a statement read by an FBI agent, another woman who described herself as from a law enforcement family said Heitstuman “used his authority in uniform to traumatize me” in 2018.

“The defendant assured me that as a Homeland Security officer, he was at the top of the law enforcement food chain. He guaranteed me that no one would believe me if I reported what happened,” the woman wrote. “He assured me that ‘you can get out of anything,’ as he had done in the past. His actions and threats left me in a constant state of fear, a state of fear that still affects me today.

Heitstuman apologized before the judge handed down his sentence, saying he had betrayed his profession and never intended to hurt anyone.

“I’m not sorry about the accusations,” he said. “What I am sorry for is sin.”

Heitstuman was charged in 2021 with five counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of attempted second-degree sexual assault. The February plea agreement dismissed all but one sexual assault charge.

The sexual assault charge stems from incidents between July 2011 and December 2014 involving three women with whom Heitstuman had sexual contact without their consent, according to the charges updated in February. The misdemeanor harassment charge involved “offensive physical contact” with another woman in 2018.

During that incident, Heitstuman told the woman, “If you come after me, I'll come after you,” according to the original indictment.

Five of the seven charges related to incidents that occurred during Heitstuman's employment as a law enforcement specialist with the Federal Protective Service's Department of Homeland Security. Others related to a period when Heitstuman worked as a security guard at the Dimond Center shopping mall, police said at the time.

McKenna said the sentence handed down this week was the minimum a judge could impose in 2011, but is now 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 2011 of forcing women to perform sex acts or sexually touching them while on duty. Rollins was sentenced to 87 years in prison following a trial on numerous sexual assault charges.

This case was different, however, because it involved a plea deal driven in part by pandemic-related delays, a single sexual assault charge, and some incidents dating back more than 10 years.

All plea agreements involve some level of compromise, prosecutor Matt Heibel said during the hearing. In this case, the agreement provides certainty and closure, Heibel said.

“This allows for the formal recognition of these individuals, whether named or not, who have suffered harm,” he said. “He gets a sex offender registration. He gets probation with a no-contact order. And he gets some prison time.