This Journalist Was Forced To Resign After Station Failed To Protect Her From A Psycho Fraudster

Heidi Hemmat holding one of her last Emmys (image courtesy Hemmat's Facebook)
Heidi Hemmat holding one of her last Emmys (image courtesy Hemmat’s Facebook)

Back in August, Heidi Hemmat, the longtime consumer and business fraud reporter at KDVR, Denver’s Fox affiliate, abruptly disappeared from the air. Well, on Thanksgiving night, the veteran journalist revealed the reason for her absence. She was forced to resign when a businessman she’d exposed as a fraud threatened to kill her–and the station failed to adequately protect her.

In February 2015, Hemmat and the KDVR “Problem Solvers” investigative team got word that AAAA TV Electronics and Vacuum in Centennial, south of Denver, was gouging its customers for unneeded repairs. One customer asked AAAA to fix his speaker, and got a bill for $889 when the work order suggested it shouldn’t have cost more than $40. Prosecutors in Arapahoe County launched an investigation. It later emerged that AAAA’s owner, Muhammed Murib, had been arrested in 1993 for charging customers for parts that weren’t replaced and tossing out the equipment when they refused to pay for these bogus charges. He pleaded guilty–but despite this dubious reputation, set up shop a few miles away in Centennial.

Soon afterward, state attorney general Cynthia Coffman ordered Murib to turn over years of records. To that end, he was served with a search warrant from the Arapahoe County sheriff. However, Hemmat got a tip that Murib was throwing out documents containing personal customer information. When Hemmat peeked inside Murib’s dumpster, she found a trove of receipts and work orders containing bank account numbers and credit card numbers. When Murib spotted her, he crassly ordered Hemmat to leave. Hemmat retorted that she wouldn’t have been there had he complied with the order.

In July, Murib was arrested on charges of theft, tampering with evidence, fraud, and forgery. According to the arrest warrant, Hemmat had been tipped off about AAAA’s shady deals by one of Murib’s own employees. That employee, Cody Hawkins, subsequently told investigators that Murib frequently lied to his customers in order to run up their bill, and even went as far as to order his technicians to “unfix” products or cut wires if customers refused to pay these bogus bills.

Soon after that arrest, Hemmat got a call that no journalist wants to get. Murib’s psychatrist called to tell Hemmat that Murib wanted Hemmat dead. He had been placed on a 72-hour hold in the psychiatric ward, but was likely to be released since it was the Fourth of July weekend. The psychiatrist concerned that Murib would make good on his threat once released, and chase her down at her home or at the station. For that reason she felt compelled to break confidentiality and ask Hemmat if there was anywhere she could go. She even feared she’d be breaking HPPA. However, there is no way that a prosecutor could indict a medical professional for coming forward about a credible threat of this nature and keep his or her job.

Hemmat was so frightened that she filed a police report and got a restraining order against Murib. He was forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet. However, KDVR didn’t take this clear threat against a journalist doing her job seriously. Station officials paid undercover cops to protect Hemmat for a few days, but did nothing else to protect her. Indeed, her news director harrumphed about the cost, and suggested that Murib would have long since come after her if he had any intention of doing so.

Weeks later, Hemmat got another alarming call from her victim advocate. Apparently Murib had cut off his ankle bracelet, and Arapahoe County deputies had no way of tracking him. That put Hemmat into a panic.

“I promptly put my kids in the car and started driving, where? I don’t know. But as they babbled in their little toddler way in the back seat, all I could do was hide my fear, never letting on that their mommy could be taken from them–worse –they could be injured in the crossfire. By the way, I also by this point had a gun for the first time in my life.”

In November, Coffman ordered Murib to shut down his repair shop, and sued him for consumer fraud. Despite this, station officials insisted that Hemmat do follow-ups every time Murib appeared in court. Hemmat had a reputation in the Denver area as a savvy journalist and vigorous investigator. However, the same judgment that garnered her six Emmys led her to conclude that Murib would never be able to bilk anyone again, and the story was more or less over. Additionally, she feared for her safety.

When she brought her concerns to her news director, Hemmat couldn’t believe the response.

“Heidi, we’re journalists, we are not going to stop doing stories just because he had a temper tantrum.”

This wasn’t just a temper tantrum. This was a death threat that a psychiatrist deemed credible enough to break a professional confidence.

Despite her feelings, Hemmat continued on. However, by the end of the May sweeps, she no longer felt safe chasing down fraudsters when it was apparent her station wouldn’t protect her if another Murib threatened her. She went on leave of absence after the sweeps period, and formally resigned in August after 15 years at the station. She has now devoted her energy to her independent production company, which produces legal documentaries. In a classic case of cold comfort, Murib settled the consumer fraud suit a month after Murib left the station. He was fined $400,000 and is permanently banned from performing electronics repairs in the state.

I would have done the same thing. When a station learns about a credible threat against a reporter, basic decency demands that it do everything it can to protect him or her. KDVR not only failed to do so with Hemmat, but asked her to continue sticking her neck out to cover a guy who had threatened to kill her. Any station that thinks ratings come before the safety of a hard-working journalist and mother should be ashamed of itself. Tell KDVR what you think of its irresponsible behavior on Facebook and on Twitter.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.