Asks Time to Pay in J. David Case : Columna Denies Probation Violation

Former J. David & Co. aide Parin Columna has not violated his three-year probation, Columna’s attorney said in federal court Monday, and would pay the money he owes to the J. David estate if only the bankruptcy trustee would accept installment payments.

Columna will “persist in his denial that he violated his probation,” Michael J. McCabe, Columna’s attorney, said in court.

U.S. District Judge William B. Enright will decide whether to revoke Columna’s probation at a hearing Thursday morning. If Enright revokes the probation, Columna could be sentenced to six months in custody.

A federal probation officer last month said in court documents that Columna had violated his probation because he had not cooperated with J. David & Co. bankruptcy trustee Louis Metzger. Specifically, the probation officer reported, Metzger had not received a sworn financial statement from Columna, nor had he received a Honda generator, valued at nearly $1,300.

Since that probation report, Columna has submitted a financial affidavit. However, he has not delivered the generator.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert D. Rose said in court Monday that Columna now owes Metzger nearly $4,100 for the generator and for damage done to a 1982 Ford pickup truck that was returned to the estate.

Columna was sentenced June 4 after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of criminal contempt of court. He was an unknown carpenter until his work for the fraud-infested J. David & Co. investment firm catapulted him into the limelight. Federal prosecutors charged him with aiding and abetting J. David (Jerry) Dominelli during his flight to the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat in April, 1984, to avoid imprisonment.

Columna has a negative net worth of nearly $20,000, according to his financial statement. He sold his house in Rancho Penasquitos recently for about $130,000, but netted only $4,773 after paying off encumbrances.

Columna was unaware that the probation office believed he had violated his probation until he read about it in the newspapers, McCabe said Monday. “Since then, he has complied in every respect with the trustee,” he told Enright. “The only dispute is when the money ought to be paid.”

Columna has offered to pay Metzger in installments over a three-year period, but Metzger has refused the proposal.

The only asset Columna has, said McCabe, is a 1962 Porsche that belongs to his wife. Columna, whose Columna Contracting firm is insolvent and “on the verge of bankruptcy,” now works in construction and uses his car for transportation to and from work. McCabe did not say what kind of car Columna has, nor did he describe it in court as one of Columna’s assets.

Dominelli, meanwhile, is at a federal hospital in Springfield, Mo., undergoing a routine medical evaluation before being assigned to a federal facility to serve his 20-year prison term.

He was sentenced in June after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud and income tax evasion in connection with the collapse of his firm, which lured $200 million from 1,500 investors with false promises of annual returns of as much as 40%.