Allison Burchett again accused in cybercrime

Knox County's top prosecutor inked approval of a proposed plea deal for Knox County's former first lady in a cyberattack despite an ongoing probe of a hacking involving potential witnesses, the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee has learned. 

Allison Burchett is expected Thursday to announce at a hearing in Knox County Criminal Court whether she will take a deal to avoid trial in a 13-count indictment accusing her of a cyberattack on the estranged wife of her millionaire beau, Bandit Lites owner Michael Strickland.

That deal was offered, the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee has confirmed, despite an open investigation into another cybercrime in which she is a suspect.

New hacking claim

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee confirmed this week that the Knoxville Police Department is investigating a hacking complaint filed by former Bandit Lites President Pete Heffernan and his wife, Drema Heffernan. Both are potential witnesses against Burchett, ex-wife of Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, in the alleged cyberattack on Strickland's estranged wife.

Read more:

► DA takes on victim in case against former Knox first lady Allison Burchett

► Sources: Allison Burchett offered plea to avoid trial, jail

KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said Tuesday that Investigator Andrew Olson's probe into the August hacking of the couple's Verizon and PayPal accounts is "ongoing." He declined further comment.

The Heffernans are accusing Allison Burchett and Strickland and say they have confirmed that the IP address from which the hacking was launched is one assigned to Bandit Lites. Burchett was on bond in the cyber stalking case and working as director of philanthropy at Bandit Lites at the time of the hacking.

Pete Heffernan said he met with Olson and Knox County Assistant District Attorney General Bill Bright about the hacking in November.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen approved a plea deal offer for Burchett in the cyber stalking case in April despite the pending probe.

A spokesman for Allen declined to comment.

"Ethical rules prohibit the district attorney's office from commenting on pending cases," spokesman Sean McDermott said.

Burchett's lead attorney, Bill Ramsey, was unavailable for comment because of a family emergency. His firm did not respond on his behalf.

Friends part ways

The USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee has obtained copies of an authorization to search the couple's hacked accounts for clues that Investigator Olson drafted on Nov. 9, email exchanges last week between the Heffernans and Olson about the case, and screenshots of the hacking notices the pair received from Verizon and PayPal. The hacker's IP address is listed on the Verizon notice and is associated with an internet provider used by Bandit Lites.

Pete Heffernan worked for Bandit Lites for more than three decades. He was serving as president last July when Strickland fired him, according to Knox County Chancery Court records.

Pending court action Heffernan filed after his termination says Heffernan's job was "eliminated," but Strickland later accused Heffernan and another former employee of paying staffers more than was authorized and awarding bonuses, including to himself, without Strickland's approval. At a May hearing in that case - in which Heffernan is challenging his right to work for another entertainment lighting firm despite a one-year non-compete clause - Strickland offered no proof of financial shenanigans, the court record shows.

Roughly two weeks after Heffernan was fired, he and his wife were notified an unfamiliar IP address was used to log into the Verizon and PayPal accounts.

"The IP address was that of Bandit Lites," Heffernan said.

It appeared the hacker only perused the accounts and made no changes. Heffernan said he stored personal passwords on his computer at Bandit Lites, which he was forced to leave untouched at his office on the day of his firing.

"(Burchett) was the only one of the two who had skills to do that," said Heffernan, a longtime friend of Strickland's.

Heffernan's wife has told prosecutors that the Heffernans attended a University of Tennessee football game with Burchett and Strickland in a sky box in the fall of 2015 - just before Bandit Lites was raided for evidence in the cyberattack on Strickland's estranged wife.

Burchett told Drema Heffernan she had "flipped" the Facebook account of Strickland's estranged wife from a private setting to a public one and pilfered an embarrassing photo of her in a bid to discredit her in the Stricklands' contentious divorce case.

Burchett is accused in the cyber stalking indictment of doing just that, along with other intrusions into Nicole Strickland's internet accounts, bank accounts and medical records, among other things.

Pete Heffernan told prosecutor Bright that Michael Strickland had shown him the photograph around the same time.

He said he has called Bright "five times in the past week" to voice objection to the plea deal offered Burchett in the cyber stalking case. His calls have not been returned, he said.

"The truth is the truth," Pete Heffernan said. "If they hadn't gone into our accounts and tried to do whatever they were doing, we wouldn't have done anything."

The deal

Allison Burchett is charged with 13 crimes: six felony charges of identity theft, six misdemeanor charges of unlawful access to a computer and a felony charge of creating a fake document to try to influence the court in the Stricklands' divorce case.

Allen has approved a plea deal for Burchett with two options: Plead guilty to four felonies but have them erased with four years of good behavior or confess six misdemeanors that will stay on her record. Under either option, Burchett would only go to jail if she is caught violating the terms of her four-year probationary sentence.

Nicole Strickland has cried foul over the plea deal, but Allen has refused to rescind it. Allen has refused to answer questions about the plea deal or the case.

Burchett took up residence with Michael Strickland in the home he had shared with Nicole Strickland soon after she and Knox County’s mayor divorced in 2012. The Stricklands are still married. Their divorce fight has been ongoing since 2010.

The indictment alleges that Allison Burchett began a series of attacks on Nicole Strickland beginning in 2014. She is accused of using Nicole Strickland’s Social Security number and birth date to impersonate her on the internet, hack into her social media accounts, get access to her medical records, transfer money out of her account, cause her electricity to be shut off and take out a loan in her name.

Nicole Strickland was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after she split from her estranged husband and underwent a double mastectomy. Allison Burchett is also accused of illegally accessing photos of Nicole Strickland’s chest and posting them on the internet in a bid to discredit her diagnosis and embarrass her.