Newport Detective Is Under Suspicion

A Newport Beach detective who investigated three young men accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on videotape is suspected of falsely collecting workers’ compensation benefits, an unrelated charge that could nonetheless play a role in the high-profile rape trial that began this week.

The Orange County district attorney’s office has not yet acted on charges referred by Newport Beach against Det. Terri L. Fischer. But prosecutors handling the rape trial were compelled to tell defense attorneys of the allegation under federal and state rules requiring both sides in a criminal case to reveal information that might affect the truthfulness of a witness.

If Fischer is called to testify during the trial, which continued for a third day Wednesday, the fraud investigation could be used to cast doubt on her credibility, since she would be testifying on behalf of the office that is considering whether to prosecute her, legal experts say.

Both sides included Fischer on their witness lists for the trial of the three young men, each charged with 24 felony counts of rape and related crimes: Keith James Spann and Kyle Joseph Nachreiner, both 19, and 18-year-old Gregory Scott Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl. All three were Rancho Cucamonga-area residents at the time, as was the girl.

A critical piece of evidence is a 20-minute videotape Haidl made of the July 2002 encounter that later was turned in to police. The three could each get up to 55 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Last week, attorneys discussed Fischer’s possible testimony for the prosecution in a hearing before Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Hess said Wednesday that Fischer wouldn’t be called by the prosecution. Newport Beach Police Det. John Hougan will take the stand because he was the lead investigator, Hess said.

In opening statements, defense attorneys made no mention of the workers’ comp case but described Fischer as untrustworthy and biased in support of the alleged victim. They said Fischer conducted a shoddy investigation and pushed on even though the girl said no crime occurred and asked that the case be dropped.

Fischer has been off work with an unidentified injury since Sept. 10, 2002, according to testimony she gave last year during a preliminary hearing in the rape case.

Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau confirmed that police have forwarded a workers’ comp fraud case against her to the district attorney but declined to comment further.

Experts offered varying views on what role the charges against Fischer might play in the rape case.

Robert Pugsley, a professor of criminal law at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, said the defense would probably do everything it could to impeach Fischer’s credibility.

“They’re going to try to throw every gum wad on the ceiling and see what sticks,” he said. “But just because the defense may want to do something doesn’t mean they can. The judge is the gatekeeper for what he’ll allow the jury to hear.”

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at Loyola Law School, agreed that the judge might not allow it. Moreover, such a move would be risky because her testimony might backfire against the defense if she offers new incriminating details, Levenson said. The main evidence in the case that will impress the jury remains the videotape, she said.

Prosecutors have condemned the actions by Haidl, Spann and Nachreiner as a vicious assault on an unconscious girl who was drugged and then sexually assaulted by the three before being penetrated with a series of objects, including a pool cue, a lighted cigarette and a Snapple bottle.

Defense attorneys have countered that the girl orchestrated the videotaped session out of a purported desire to become a porn star and was feigning unconsciousness.

Joseph G. Cavallo, who represents Gregory Haidl, described Fischer in opening statements as a biased investigator who concluded that the suspects were guilty of a crime, then conducted an incomplete investigation, including discarding information advantageous to them and leaving relevant facts about the alleged victim out of reports.

The girl denied during her first interview with Fischer that a crime had occurred, Cavallo said. Fischer then took the girl, and sometimes her friends, out to dinner and recorded several interviews with her, the attorney said. He said Fischer apparently stopped and started the audiotapes when it suited the tone she wanted. “This was a single-hypothesis investigation from day one,” Cavallo told jurors.

Cavallo contended Fischer became emotionally involved in the case from the outset, befriending the girl and losing her objectivity.

Fischer testified during the preliminary hearing that she was disturbed by the videotape but denied becoming overly sympathetic to the girl.

Fischer, 36, has been a police officer for about 10 years, working for almost four years with the sexual assault unit of the Newport Beach Police Department, according to her testimony at the preliminary hearing.

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Times staff writer Claire Luna contributed to this report.