Heggen v. State

Thomas Heggen, age thirty-one and married with two children, is “a stable, law-abiding, and productive member of the [Casper] community.” In 1987, he and his family were in the process of completing an adoption and were then the victims of the Casper, Wyoming energy depression and consequent unemployment. Unemployed for one and one-half years, he took whatever part-time work he could find until he could obtain full time employment.

His improvidence in obtaining unreported part-time employment while receiving continued unemployment compensation benefits resulted in the filing against him of a…