A Chattanooga businessman who pleaded guilty to theft after taking money from people for grave markers and then not filling the orders would receive two years probation if a prosecutor’s recommendation is accepted.
Trent Daniel Wichman, speaking publicly Monday for the first time since he was charged two years ago, apologized for his actions while running longtime Brainerd Road business Wichman Monuments.
“There’s deep regret,” he said before Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman at a sentencing hearing. “To realize I caused so much suffering is devastating. I really am sorry.”
But two people who testified they were victimized said Wichman took their money, about $9,500 combined, and left them without their markers after the business suddenly shut down in February 2018.
Jim Mykytyn of Temple, Georgia, said his 85-year-old mother paid in full for two markers, and while they eventually received restitution, “the money doesn’t compensate for grieving and for the heartache.”
Judge Steelman, after a four-hour hearing, said he would take Hamilton County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Coyle’s sentencing recommendation under advisement. He set a hearing for Oct. 26.
Coyle is asking for unsupervised probation with no diversion for the six counts.
Ben McGowan, Wichman’s attorney, is seeking diversion related to the possible sentence. That means the felonies could be wiped away from his client’s record at a later date.
Wichman Monuments, a 72-year-old business on Brainerd Road, stopped filling hundreds of orders on headstones and markers for which people had paid, according to testimony.
Wichman, who was 33 years old when he was indicted, headed the Brainerd company started by his grandfather, Fred Wichman.
Coyle told the judge that he recommended probation because all the victims had been repaid or finally received gravestones or markers.
But Coyle listed a number of ATM charges made against the company business in late 2017 and early 2018 at the Harrah’s casino in Cherokee, North Carolina. He also submitted evidence about trips to Las Vegas, China and South Korea by Wichman.
“I would recommend against diversion,” Coyle said. “There were multiple victims. Diversion doesn’t serve justice.”
McGowan said Wichman pleaded guilty to “a dubious prosecution” because he wanted to accept responsibility.
“This is the messiest wind up of a business I’ve ever seen. But that’s what it was, the wind up of a business,” he said.
But Maria Ramirez of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, also testified about meeting with Wichman in 2017 after her husband’s death and giving the company $4,500.
“I cannot tell you the anxiety and anguish I went through during this time after my husband’s death,” she said in an earlier email to the Times Free Press. “From then on it was lots of sleepless nights, lots of crying and anxiety and prayers to find out who was going to help us and how we … were going to find help.”
Randy Wilson of Randy Wilson Painting earlier said he bought the Wichman Monuments‘ three-quarter-acre tract from Wichman’s grandparents. He said he had agreed to accept responsibility for the customer accounts, which numbered about 260.
He said earlier that the cost of the property and paying the claims would probably be more than $400,000.
In February 2018, the local Better Business Bureau began to receive complaints about Wichman Monuments.
A month later, the Chattanooga Police Department said it had opened a fraud investigation after receiving complaints. Later that month, the business announced it had shut down permanently. A statement said the closure was precipitated by rising costs and the loss of some key employees to illness. In July, Wichman was indicted on theft charges.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.