4 Ex-Officials Sentenced in Poker Parlor License Deal

Four former City of Commerce officials received short federal prison terms Monday for their roles in a scheme to grant a poker parlor license in return for secret shares in the casino.

In handing down the relatively light sentences, U.S. District Judge William J. Rea took note of the city officials’ cooperation as government witnesses in the successful prosecution of Orange County businessman W. Patrick Moriarty and Las Vegas gambling figure Frank J. Sansone.

Moriarty pleaded guilty to bribery-related mail fraud counts in mid-trial last month and a jury subsequently convicted Sansone of mail fraud and operating an illegal gambling enterprise at the California Commerce Club.

Chief Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard Drooyan informed Rea at Monday’s sentencing that former Councilmen Robert Eula, Arthur Loya and Ricardo Vasquez and the city’s former economic development director, Phil C. Jacks, fully cooperated with the government but said their offenses “still mandate a certain period of incarceration.”

Sentences and Fines

The judge followed Drooyan’s advice on the culpability of the defendants in imposing 10 months imprisonment for Eula, 8 months for Loya, 6 months for Jacks and 3 months for Vasquez.

Fines of $2,250 each were levied against Eula and Loya. All four were placed on three-years probation to begin at the end of their time in custody, which is scheduled to start April 29.

That is the date Sansone is scheduled to appear before Rea for sentencing. Moriarty’s sentencing has been postponed until June to give investigators time to interview him about illegal attempts to influence public officials.

Monday’s sentencing required more than two hours to complete as the four men made tearful statements of remorse in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom as their families and friends watched.

Eula was the first to be sentenced and told the judge in a cracking voice, “I must say to you that I have offended my God, my wife and family, my country and my city. I am very sorry. I am so sorry.”

Similar emotional statements were made by the other three defendants after their attorneys listed their long histories of service to their communities.

Judge Rea, in explaining his decision to mete out the short prison sentences instead of granting probation, said:

“This is a particularly difficult case. They seem to fit into the same mold with long records of public service and dedication to the youth of their community . . . but corruption by a public official is not easily mitigated.

Need for Punishment

“If conduct like this goes unpunished, the very foundation of our government collapses . . . there has been a public loss of faith in the integrity of politicians, and a crime such as this, which engenders further loss of confidence, just adds to the problem.”

Rea presided over the recently completed trial which led to Moriarty’s guilty plea and Sansone’s conviction.

In the trial, Eula testified that he “felt from the beginning that there should be something in it for us,” referring to the city officials who approached a Las Vegas group headed by Sansone in August of 1981 to operate a card club in the City of Commerce.

At one point in his testimony, Eula blurted out, “I am a crook.”

Jacks testified that four months after that first meeting with Sansone, the Las Vegas group offered the city officials “two points each” with the estimate that this would bring them secret payments of “about $6,000 a month.”

Vasquez also took the stand to say that he joined the scheme after it began. Loya was not called to testify because, Drooyan told Rea, his testimony was not needed to obtain the conviction.