Ex-Poway Official Harris Ordered to Pay Up or Go to Jail

Former Poway City Atty. Jean Harris was ordered Wednesday by a Municipal Court judge to immediately begin making previously court-ordered restitution payments to a man to whom he illegally sold subdivided land or face a one-year jail term.

Harris was in the courtroom of Municipal Court Judge E. Mac Amos Jr. for sentencing after being found guilty of violating parole regulations imposed by the judge last year after Harris’ conviction on one misdemeanor count of illegally selling subdivided land.

Amos directed Harris to make a $2,000 payment to James Bumford within two weeks and to begin in February making $500 monthly restitutions to Bumford. After pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge in July, Harris, in a plea-bargaining agreement, was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to reimburse Bumford $49,528 in $500 monthly payments.

Harris had been charged with three felony violations of the state’s Business and Professions Code before striking his plea-bargain agreement. After his guilty plea on the one misdemeanor charge, Harris resigned from his $63,000-a-year job as city attorney for Poway.

According to public records, Harris violated state subdivision laws when he split his 263-acre parcel on Eagle Crest Road near Poway into 16 smaller parcels without applying for a major subdivision map, thus avoiding major improvements he would have been forced to make on the property.

Harris, who served as his own attorney and unsuccessfully appealed the sentence, had not been making the restitution payments, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Josephine Kiernan, the prosecutor in the case. Bumford was the only person to purchase one of the illegally subdivided lots.

Kiernan argued Wednesday that Harris should be imprisoned immediately for violating his probation agreement. “I personally feel we will never see a dime from Mr. Harris,” Kiernan said. “He will drag this thing through the appellate courts. He’s an attorney. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

Amos warned Harris that he would be placed in custody if the probation terms were violated again. “The next time the people (prosecution) requests custody, custody will be granted,” the judge said.

Bumford was in the courtroom for the hearing Wednesday. “They were too lenient on him . . . “ Bumford said. “He’s a criminal.”