'Two realities': Hightman gets prison time, ordered to pay $13K as missing persons case continues

GILLETTE — Kennedy Wainaina and Chris Gakwa may have made their last trip to Gillette for a while.

They’ve made the nearly 800-mile drive several times since reporting their sister, Irene Gakwa, missing last March.

This time, they drove east in a 15-passenger van with eight other family members to attend the sentencing of Nathan J. Hightman, the man convicted of stealing from Irene’s bank account, running up her credit cards and deleting her email account in the days and weeks after she was last heard from.

At his sentencing Wednesday, Hightman, 39, was sentenced to up to six years in prison followed by three years of probation and more than $13,000 in fines and restitution.

He was named as a person of interest but has not been charged in connection to Irene’s disappearance, which remains an ongoing Gillette police investigation.

“Three to six years is pretty good time for the crimes that he’s charged with currently,” Wainaina said. “We’re still wondering: Where’s Irene? What happened to Irene?”

The three- to six-year sentences for felony theft and unlawful use of a credit card are set to run concurrently, with a suspended two- to three-year sentence for crimes against intellectual property to follow.

That sentence has been suspended in favor of three years of supervised probation that will begin once Hightman is released from prison.

District Judge James M. “Mike” Causey fined Hightman $2000 for each of the three convictions, but suspended one of the fines. Hightman was ordered to pay $3666.46 in restitution for money stolen from Irene’s checking account and $3230.65 for money charged to her credit cards.

Hightman was credited for 81 days served, including 79 days in presentence confinement in the Campbell County Detention Center after his bond was revoked at his late-March change of plea hearing.

On top of the fines and restitution, Hightman was ordered to pay $825 in other fees and $1500 for the cost of his public defender, after the judge denied the attorney’s request to waive that cost.

In all, Hightman must pay just more than $13,200 in fines, restitution and fees.

Hightman pleaded guilty to the three felonies in March, each of which occurred in the days and weeks after Feb. 24, 2022, when his fiancée, Irene, was last seen in a video call with her parents.

The Gillette Police Department has named Hightman a person of interest in her missing persons case, which remains ongoing.

‘Two realities’

At his change of plea hearing in March, Hightman entered cold pleas of guilty without sentencing recommendations in place, meaning he went into his sentencing hearing with the maximum penalties for each count still in play.

The theft and unlawful use of a credit card counts each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both. The other felony carries up to three years in prison and a $3,000 fine.

The sentence Causey delivered aligned with Campbell County Attorney Nathan Henkes’ argument at the hearing and deviated from Lamb’s ask of probation and restitution, with no prison time.

Lamb asked for suspended two- to five-year sentences in favor of three years of supervised probation for the financial crimes and a suspended one- to three-year sentence for the other, with all three set to run concurrently. That would have put Hightman on supervised probation and kept him out of prison.

Lamb noted Hightman’s lack of a criminal history and the heavy media attention his case has garnered locally, nationally and among some international outlets.

“There exists two realities in this courtroom right now,” he said.

One reality was of the objective facts of the case and crimes Hightman pleaded guilty to and “the other reality, the one that exists beyond the bar, that exists in the gallery and community at large, is a subjective reality,” Lamb said.

He said that Hightman spent almost a year on bond facing scrutiny from “so called concerned citizens in our community” and still stayed in town. He said that food-delivery and ride-sharing drivers began ignoring Hightman’s requests.

He also said that Hightman faced a “bounty” for if “something were to happen” to him while in the Campbell County Jail, where he was placed apart from the general population.

“The individuals in this community following this case have made his life hell,” Lamb said.

Sheriff’s Cpl. Nina Bevilaqua, a Campbell County detention officer, said Thursday that Hightman entered the jail’s most protected area April 26 “at his own request.”

“He said there was a bounty on his head and he was afraid to stay where he was,” she said. “He was in a protective custody block and he wanted more protection.”

Jail officers did not see anything that “raised any alarms but we’re not going to question if he doesn’t feel safe,” she said.

Lamb also cited the city of Gillette Facebook page, which has a pinned post of a press release that names Hightman as a person of interest in the investigation into Irene’s disappearance.

“Our own city government Facebook account continues to put him on blast day after day,” he said.

He said that rumors and allegations in the community surrounding Irene’s missing person case has led community members to see Hightman as guilty of crimes he has not been charged with.

“The one who needs protecting is not the public, it’s Mr. Hightman,” he said.

‘Revenge behavior’

After Lamb’s opening, Henkes called Wainaina, Irene’s brother, as a witness and Lamb objected. After about 15 minutes of side bar with the judge and talking with Wainaina, Henkes chose to move forward without calling his witness.

His arguments questioned Hightman’s level of accountability and claimed the theft crimes were not ordinary financial crimes. Instead, they were to “exert power and control over Irene Gakwa.”

“Mr. Hightman is not the victim in this case,” Henkes said. “Irene Gakwa is the victim in this case and I think that needs to be made abundantly clear.”

In questioning Hightman’s accountability, Henkes said that in the presentence investigation report, Hightman stated that he would rather have pleaded no contest to his charges and that an appropriate punishment for himself would be “a jail sentence to appease the family.”

Henkes said there are crimes of opportunity and impulsive one-off crimes, but that the crimes Hightman pleaded guilty to were repeated numerous times until the bank account was depleted and credit cards frozen.

He also argued that Hightman deleting Irene’s Gmail account was a way to “control the narrative.”

“This is revenge behavior versus a random act based on opportunity,” Henkes said.

He asked Causey for concurrent prison sentences for the financial charges and did not recommend a length, leaving that up to the judge.