Notes for the criminal complaint filed against Heidi Detra for theft from the Swe family while employed as a nanny

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

• Check post-dated to March 1^st was given to Ms. Detra as the 1^st fell on a Saturday this month and she had plans to be away for the weekend.

Saturday, March 1, 2003

• Ms. Detra cashed the check at the University of Wisconsin Credit Union. This information was confirmed by online banking.

Sunday, March 2, 2003

• Ms. Detra returned Saturn to the Swe residence at approximately 12:20pm. Mr. Swe saw Ms. Detra driving into the neighborhood as he was leaving the neighborhood at that time. The car was left in the driveway and Ms. Detra, presumably, drove away with another individual. This was not witnessed. Ms. Swe, her children, and her mother were home at that time and Ms. Detra did not enter the house or make any contact with family members.
• At roughly 1:30pm, when Mr. Swe returned home, it was discovered that the car key, house key, and family cell phone were in the unlocked car. At that time suspicions arose about Mr. Detra’s actions though nothing had been confirmed.
• At roughly 1:50pm, Mr. and Ms. Swe went through the family cell phone records and obtained the phone numbers for her father and for the friends with whom she was residing.
• Ms. Swe called Ms. Detra’s father to determine if he knew where she was as we were worried about her and our situation. Ms. Detra’s father indicated to Ms. Swe that he had last talked with her at 5:00pm the previous day and knew nothing further.
• Ms. Swe then called the apartment where Ms. Detra was residing to try to reach her. A gentleman answered the telephone and stated that she was not there. A message was left with the gentleman for Ms. Detra to return the call.
• At approximately 2:15pm Ms. Detra called back. Ms Swe was in the backyard with the children and did not hear the phone. Ms. Detra left a voice mail message indicating that everything was fine and that she had just bought a new car to use during her off time. She reported that she dropped off the Saturn as a result of her new car. She indicated in the voice mail that she would be at work at 7:45am the following morning (Monday, March 3, 2003) as per usual.
• At approximately 2:40pm Ms Swe called Ms. Detra back at the apartment where she was staying. Ms. Detra answered the phone. Ms. Swe asked Ms. Detra if she planned to show up for work the next day and Ms. Detra, after a period of silence, said, “Actually, April, I do not plan to return.” Ms. Swe indicated that that was fine but iterated to Ms. Detra that the money for the March payment must be returned immediately. Ms. Detra told Ms. Swe that she would send an e-mail outlining how the money would be re-paid. Ms. Swe reiterated that it was necessary that the money be paid. At that point, the gentleman with whom Ms. Detra was currently living took the phone from Ms. Detra and told Ms. Swe (in a profanity laced tirade) that this is not Ms. Detra’s telephone and that I was not to call his phone again. He them hung up the phone. From that moment on, as per requested, no more calls were made to the residence. A total of 2 calls were made to the home, the second of which was a callback.
• At approximately 3:00pm Ms. Detra sent an e-mail to Ms. Swe indicating that she did not plan to return the money and outlined the reasons why she felt this was acceptable. Please see Appendix A for the e-mail. The information in the e-mail is not accurate and the nanny contract (Appendix B) along with the e-mail text itself will support this fact.
• At approximately 3:15pm, Mr. Swe called the Madison Police Department. He spoke at length with Detective Lori Chalecki. Detective Chalecki took the report by phone. Mr. Swe provided Detective Chalecki with the phone numbers and addresses of both Ms. Detra’s father and of the apartment where she had been residing. Detective Chalecki informed Mr. Swe that she would call Ms. Detra’s father and her current residence to inform them that a report had been filed with the MPD.
• At approximately 3:40, Ms. Swe sent an e-mail to Ms. Detra informing her that a police report had been filed. See Appendix C for a copy of the e-mail.
• At approximately 4:00, Detective Chalecki called Mr. Swe back and informed him that she had spoken both with Ms. Detra and with her father. Detective Chalecki informed Mr. Swe that Ms. Detra had agreed to repay the money in full. Detective Chalecki stated that Ms. Detra agreed to mail a cashable check for the full amount from an open bank account to the Swe family on Monday, March 3, 2003. Detective Chalecki instructed Mr. Swe to call her back if the check was not received by Thursday, March 6, 2003 or if the check was returned because of insufficient funds.
• At approximately 6:00pm Mr. Swe went to Home Depot to get the parts necessary to replace all of the locks in the home and neighbors were informed that Ms. Detra was no longer allowed on the Swe property at any time.
• By 9:00pm all of the locks in the house were replaced.

Monday, March 3, 2003

• At approximately 7:30am, Mr. Swe went to the drive-up lane at the University of Wisconsin Credit Union on Junction Road. Since the bank does not open until 9:00am he wanted to at least have contact with the bank when they first opened. He spoke with a teller about the situation and she informed Ms. Swe that there was nothing that she could do about the situation since the check has already been cashed and had cleared. Mr. Swe asked her to make a note of the conversation and informed her that he would return to the bank when the opened at 9:00am to speak with a manager.
• At approximately 9:15am, Mr. Swe went to the UW Credit Union main branch to speak with someone. He ended up speaking with Michelle. Michelle informed him that Ms. Detra had not actually deposited the check into her account, rather she had cashed the check and left the building with the money in hand. This is the first time that Ms. Detra had not deposited the check into the account. Since the check had not been deposited into the account, the credit union was unable to help with the situation. They did, however, inform Mr. Swe that there was not enough money in the account to cover a check should she write one as a repayment.
• At approximately 9pm it was determined that mail service was for an unknown reason stopped at the Swe household.  No mail had been received for multiple days.  The mailbox was double checked at 9pm.

Tuesday, March 4, 2003

• At approximately 9am, Ms. Swe finds mail that has been opened and resealed with tape appearing in the mailbox.  Mr. Swe immediately notifies the USPS that mail delievered to the Swe household is being tampered with.  By 3pm, Mr. Swe has replaced the standard curb-side mailbox with a locking, armoured mailbox to prevent future mail theft.  The USPS is monitoring the situation.

Unresolved Issues
The Swe family still has approximately $350 in unresolved bills with Ms. Detra for her personal long distance calls for 2 months and damage to the family car (about $100 of car damage had already been paid by Ms. Detra through a payment plan that had been established between Ms. Detra and the Swe's before her disappearance).  At this time, the family does not have the emotional energy to endure a civil court case.  Unless other issues arise, Mr. Swe has determined that it is in the best interest of the psychological health of his children to drop this matter.  In addition, mail tampering charges will not be filed unless other occurrences are found.