Hutsona is the force behind the popular breakfast spot, which opened inside the Cambria Hotel in November 2020. As Hutsona’s most recent criminal case unfolded, the restaurant moved to the former home of Golden Margarita on Roosevelt Row.
Hutsona, sentenced on February 28, had until mid-April to report to prison. But prosecutors alleged that she violated the conditions of her release and urged a judge to send her to prison immediately. Hutsona reported to the Federal Correctional Institution Phoenix on Monday.
“The defendant plainly presents a danger to the community, and specifically to the victim and her family,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a March 13 letter to U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman. Williams also called Hutsona a flight risk.
During a four-year period — from October 2015 to November 2019 — Hutsona stole more than $1 million from Joumana Kidd, an actress and ex-wife of Jason Kidd, the former NBA star and current head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. Prosecutors said Hutsona’s fraud scheme included transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars from Joumana Kidd’s checking account and two college savings accounts for Kidd’s children to her own at a time when Hutsona was being paid $80,000 a year as Joumana Kidd’s personal assistant.
“For years, the defendant preyed upon a vulnerable victim, stole that victim’s identity and money set aside by that victim for the education of her children, and used the proceeds of her crime to lead a luxury lifestyle while shirking her responsibility to pay back her prior victims,” Williams said in a February 21 letter to Furman.
Hutsona was arrested in Arizona on February 17, 2021, and charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. In July 2022, she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud.
On February 28, she was sentenced to 51 months in prison and three years of supervised release — well above the 33- to 41-month sentence prosecutors sought. She was also ordered to pay $1,148,759.28 in restitution to her victims.
Ahead of her sentencing in February, Williams described Hutsona as “a serial fraudster.”
“The defendant is a serial identity thief and fraudster, with a criminal history dating back almost 30 years and involving multiyear periods of incarceration and repeated violations while under court supervision,” Williams wrote in a February 21 letter to Furman.
On Sunday, Hutsona told 12News that she had “mixed emotions” about heading to prison.
"Tough to leave, obviously my family and my staff and Breakfast Bitch. I feel a lot of remorse. And it's really hit me that, you know, your past never really leaves you,” Hutsona told the media outlet.
Yet, prosecutors alleged that Hutsona has harassed her victims through social media since being sentenced in February.
“Since her sentencing less than two weeks ago, the defendant has repeatedly violated conditions of her release by posting publicly available messages on the Internet that are intended to harass the victim and include financial account information of the victim and the victim’s family members,” Williams said in his March 13 letter.
In 2008, Hutsona was sentenced to more than six years in prison for a separate case that also involved missing money, according to CBS 8 in San Diego. Hutsona pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and tax evasion and was ordered to pay $484,439.79 in restitution, according to court documents.
Breakfast Bitch plans to remain open even though one of its owners is now in federal prison.
Natasha Yee
Breakfast Bitch to ‘Run as Usual’
Hutsona was initially scheduled to be sentenced in early November 2022, just as Breakfast Bitch opened in its new location at 330 Roosevelt Row. The restaurant was taking over the space that once housed the troubled Golden Margarita. But in October, her attorneys requested a three-month delay so Hutsona could complete a 90-day treatment for long COVID-19, according to court documents. Hutsona told Phoenix New Times that she had respiratory issues that required a daily injection treatment.
A court document from a family nurse practitioner at Scottsdale Medical Center stated that Hutsona's condition is "not conducive to travel" and requested that future court matters be dealt with virtually. But according to a Breakfast Bitch employee, Hutsona regularly traveled between Phoenix and San Diego to manage her restaurants.
Her sentencing was then moved to February.
The San Diego-based Breakfast Bitch opened its original Phoenix location a few blocks away from its current Roosevelt Row spot inside the modern and funky Cambria Hotel at Second and Portland streets in November 2020. The cheeky breakfast joint debuted a food truck concept, Bitch on the Run, at the Pemberton PHX in February 2021 but didn't remain at the collective for long.
Derrell Hutsona, Tracii Hutsona’s husband, is listed as the principal and manager for Breakfast Bitch on documents filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission. He also is the licensee listed on the restaurant’s liquor license.
4th Quarter, a sports bar connected to Breakfast Bitch and operated by the Hutsonas, launched on November 11. Both businesses will remain open, Derrell Hutsona told New Times on Tuesday.
“We will stay open & business will run as usual,” he said in an email. “Thank You!”
Natasha Yee contributed to this story.
