Businessman Ordered to Begin Sentence : Judge Denies Reduction of 6-Month Term for Bankruptcy Fraud

Orange County businessman Kent Rogers was ordered Monday to begin serving a six-month prison term for bankruptcy fraud at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc on Jan. 28.

U.S. District Judge William M. Byrne rejected a motion by defense attorney Howard Weitzman to reduce the 46-year-old Rogers’ sentence.

Also during the 15-minute hearing in Los Angeles federal court, Weitzman lost his bid to have Rogers remain free on bail while Byrne’s denial of a motion for a new trial is appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rogers has remained free on bail since he and his former attorney, Jacob N. Peilte of Santa Ana, were convicted in 1982 for their efforts to hide Rogers’ ownership of the Whiting Ranch--2,769 acres of prime development land north of El Toro--during bankruptcy proceedings involving his Tustin-based Global Western Development Corp.

Attorney Served Jail Term Byrne said Monday that the case had already been through the appellate process once and that he didn’t think it was likely that the motion for a new trial would be granted on appeal. He said the 14 days Rogers has until he is due to surrender at the federal facility in Santa Barbara County is enough time for the appellate court to determine if he should be freed during the appeal.

Rogers was sentenced to six months in prison, a $10,000 fine and five years’ probation. Peilte has already served his sentence of two months in jail, paid a $5,000 fine and is on five years’ probation.

Rogers had purchased the Whiting Ranch in 1975 for $2 million and then, according to federal authorities, issued $26 million in promissory notes, secured by trust deeds on the property, in an attempt to take over several insurance firms in Louisiana and Florida.

Subsequently, when a Riverside subdivision that Global Western was developing ran into financial difficulties, Rogers filed a bankruptcy petition, seeking protection for the company from its creditors.

However, an hour before filing those papers, federal authorities said, Rogers transferred title to the ranch from Global Western to KFR Inc., another of his firms, in an attempt to hide the asset.