Fan Obsessed With Skater Sentenced to Mental Hospital

SANTA ANA —  A Westminster man convicted of sending Olympic champion Katarina Witt obscene and threatening mail was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison by a federal judge who cited the man’s “continuing denial of responsibility” for his acts.

Harry Veltman III, 47, a former crop duster, will serve the sentence in a psychiatric hospital. He was convicted March 12 on six counts of sending graphic letters and photos of himself to the German skater in hopes of getting her to marry him.

After the sentencing, Veltman’s mother, Betty J. Hall, said she is gratified that her son is going to a treatment facility.

Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Veltman has claimed at times to be a presidential candidate and also to have discovered a cure for AIDS and the location of Noah’s Ark.

He has traveled to Witt’s house in Germany where he engaged her in half an hour conversation in her yard. He also threw letters to her on the ice during a performance in Denver and entered an elevator with her in San Francisco.