Stafford’s 10-Year Fraud Sentence Shortened to 8

A Los Angeles federal court judge on Monday cut two years off James Marty Stafford’s 10-year prison term, which was described last November as “one of the stiffest sentences ever in a public corruption case” when it was imposed on the City of Industry founder.

With the two years sliced off the original sentence, the 68-year-old Stafford will be eligible for parole after 32 months, eight months earlier than under the initial 10-year term. In modifying his sentence, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie noted that Stafford has complied with the order to pay a $25,000 fine and make a $1.3-million reimbursement to the city “for pillaging the public treasury.”

Stafford received the original sentence at a Nov. 29 hearing, during which Assistant U.S. Atty. Gary Feess portrayed him as the “architect” of corruption, who masterminded bid-rigging and kickback schemes in the San Gabriel Valley city, which has 1,300 businesses and only about 650 residents.

Stafford pleaded guilty to fraud, attempted bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. James Duff, Stafford’s attorney, requested the modification of the sentence Monday basically on medical grounds, telling Rafeedie that “considering Mr. Stafford’s health problems, the original sentence could end up being a life sentence.”

Stafford told the judge at Monday’s proceedings that he has a problem with heart fibrillation, despite the implanting of a pacemaker device before his sentencing.

Rafeedie said he could not see that “anything really new” had occurred regarding Stafford’s condition, other than that he had been transferred from the federal prison at Lompoc to a federal prison medical facility in Fort Worth, Tex.

Duff also argued that the penalty imposed on Stafford was “astronomical,” compared with other defendants in the kickback scheme, four of whom received probation, with the severest penalty being a one-year and one-day sentence meted out to Burbank building contractor Frank C. Wood.

In urging the judge not to reduce the sentence, Feess said: “What is new is that the government is able to continue its investigation in the City of Industry. People are talking to us now. Your sentence had significant impact. Nobody believed it was really going to happen to Mr. Stafford.”

In reducing his original sentence, the judge made it clear that he was giving greater weight “to the fact that the reimbursement and fine have been made in full” than to the medical problems mentioned by Duff.

The defense attorney said the reimbursement had been made by giving the city a payment of $350,000 and a promissory note for $950,000, which is secured by a trust deed on a Stafford-owned office building now up for sale.