dale from microsoft declined to be interviewed for this story but people that know him describe a good-hearted man with a lot of money to invest. he started off buying a pair of skis from steve heitman. and before you know it, was bankrolling a brand new business, a ski shop called nordic sports haus. i saw a million dollar plus check written to open one of the stores. this man was an early employ of nordic sports haus, the store steve started with dale s money. steve was the one running the stores. dale was basically the money man. i m throwing as much money at this business to make it work. according to employees, steve was happy to help dale throw his money away. while my truck was in the shop, steve handed me the keys to a $80,000 porsche said drive this for a couple of days. i mean, the perks were unbelievable. the perks and promise of opportunity drew a former colleague as well, that quit his job and came to work at steve heitman s place, even though he had seen heitm
money which very soon slid into bankruptcy. guys, dale. according to court papers, he had a personal fortune of $4.5 million when he met steve heitman in 1998. by 2000, dale claimed debts of $9.5 million. the seattle media picked up the story, and soon steve heitman s name and face were everywhere. and that s when people realized just as they had in san diego that the man named mike wasn t really mike, that here, the man named steve wasn t steve at all. it s the kind of headline you see every holiday weekend. this particular senseless tragedy took the life of evelyn heitman s oldest son. he stepped backwards and fell over the edge of the rock. and went down into the river about 40 feet below.
name was steven dale heitman. he had been in the special forces with advanced training in parasailing and scuba diving, and he had not only been to war in operation desert storm, he had been a hero, awarded a bronze star and a purple heart. one thing was certain. he sure knew how to sell skis. you heard him sell skis? oh, yeah. would just smile. well, just kind of ad lib to make the sale. and he could definitely sell the skis. but he wasn t he wasn t telling them he was telling the them the truth. not only knew the equipment but had skied on all of it. you knew he didn t? right. we knew he hadn t. he hadn t three weeks ago and it was obvious. because of the lies the manager said she just couldn t trust heitman. so despite his great sales numbers, she moved him out of ski sales and eventually out the door. but not before he met a valued customer named dale. a man who really was a microsoft millionaire.
i m like, well, how much money? probably about $200,000, $300,000. the ski shop manager who hired and fired steve heitman watched her new competitor spend and spend and scratched her head. i hate to tell you it s not a ski industry. we don t make millions of dollars so that really sent up tons of red flags. but apparent think didn t send up tons of red flags for the money man, dale from microsoft, even when weird things began to happen. when i started to question things, was he asked me to get cell phones for the company. what happened when you got cell phones? the credit check came back as steve heitman being deceased. i went to him immediately and said you re coming back dead. as usual, steve had an answer. when i was in the military in europe, you know, i didn t have to file taxes, and my social security number basically went dormant. soon, nordic sports haus grew to a chain of five shops with locations all around the seattle area. steve married a young woman and
bought a nice house on 13 acres with a pond for steve s jet ski, a dirt track for steve s motorcycle. steve had all of the toys. i think dale bought them all. actually, it wasn t all dale s money. some of it was the bank s. lured to a business backed by one partner s ski expertise and the other shares in microsoft, banks loaned millions of dollars to nordic sports haus. only problem was the partner with the know-how, that would be steve, didn t seem to know much at all. he ordered way too much merchandise and soon suppliers weren t even getting paid. $400,000 behind just on snowboards. 120 days past due after having 90-day terms. he says he went to steve with his concerns and steve replied, by forcing him out of the company. by now steve was into another venture, because, as unbelievable as it sounds, he hooked up with a second, even bigger, microsoft millionaire. coming up, the mystery man is