Jason Hedican - a badge carrying attorney?
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Parking Lot Rendezvous and Other Mysterious Events
It was Friday afternoon. Sitting on the futon in our cabin, Chris and I were nothing short of shell-shocked. In a matter of just hours, we had gone from a calm, relaxed, and hopeful couple to accused criminals. Chris had been on the phone for what seemed like the entire day, trying to figure out what Federated was doing and why. I heard words I wasn’t familiar with but I knew they weren’t good. Injunction. Preliminary restraining order. There was already a court date set for something and Chris was lined up for a conference call with the judge and Federated’s attorney. I felt as if I were in the Twilight Zone.
During that conference call, Chris agreed to all the stipulations asked of him by both the judge and Federated’s lawyer. I remember thinking he may have been making a mistake to be so cooperative and permissive. After he hung up, I told him I thought we needed a lawyer. He disagreed, saying all they wanted was the computers and Federated files back and it would all be over. In hindsight, I wish he never would have spoken to anyone on the phone at all.
For about a day and a half, we sat there waiting for instruction on how to go about turning over the computer equipment. Chris wanted to drive to Owatonna immediately and give them everything. As we discussed that option, he received a phone call from Mark Lanterman, the computer forensic guy who would later testify against Chris.
Lanterman and Chris agreed that Chris would bring everything in his possession to Lanterman’s office downtown. Since we had guests at the cabin with us, they agreed to meet on Sunday.
About an hour later, Mr. Jason Hedican, attorney with Briggs and Morgan, Federated’s attorney, called Chris and told him that he didn’t need to go all the way to Lanterman’s office – that he didn’t need to be “inconvenienced” like that. So Hedican arranged to meet Chris in Avon, MN, which was about halfway from wherever Hedican was coming from and our cabin.
On Sunday, Chris, myself, and our daughter, Annabelle, loaded up in the car and drove to Avon. Since we were meeting in a parking lot right outside Subway, we left a little early so we could have lunch.
After finishing our lunch, I helped get Annabelle cleaned up and loaded into the car while Chris walked over to a parked car across the lot. From this point on, I can only go off of what Chris told me happened as I was too far away to hear or observe anything.
Immediately upon seeing Mr. Hedican, Chris was shocked and terrified. Because on his beltloop, Mr. Hedican wore a police badge.
Chris had been expecting to meet with a Federated employee, not a police officer. But after closer inspection, Chris saw that the badge was actually a Woodbury reserve police badge (Woodbury is a suburb of the Twin Cities.) Chris remembers thinking it was really odd for Mr. Hedican to be wearing this.
Mr. Hedican told Chris that he had heard about Sophia and that he felt so badly for us. He had his own kids and couldn’t imagine what we were going through.
Mr. Hedican inspected the contents of my laptop computer bag and during this inspection, pulled out an iPod. Chris said something along the lines of “Oh my gosh!” Mr. Hedican immediately went into “police mode” and said something like “What? You didn’t know this was in here? Does this have information on it too?” Chris replied that no, it had no Federated information on it but that I had been looking for my iPod for several months and he was just happy to have found it.
After Mr. Hedican was satisfied that Chris had given him everything, he said to Chris, “You’ve had me up for the last four nights researching this and all I can say is, just between you and me, I recommend you get a good attorney.”
When Chris returned to the car, he was as white as a ghost.
The preceding is based on my own recollections. I speak only for myself.
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