Fine to Be Paid in FPPC Suit by Donor to Mayor

The state Fair Political Practices Commission announced Thursday that it had collected a $9,000 fine from Roque de la Fuente Jr., the first settlement in connection with a $1.2-million civil lawsuit against Mayor Roger Hedgecock and several co-defendants. The suit alleges more than 450 campaign disclosure violations during Hedgecock’s 1983 mayoral campaign.

De la Fuente, whose family owns land on Otay Mesa and 14 San Diego County auto dealerships, paid the fine in return for the FPPC dropping charges in its civil lawsuit that he laundered $3,000 in contributions to Hedgecock’s campaign by making 13 illegal contributions through employees of a San Ysidro currency exchange that he owned at the time.

De la Fuente signed an FPPC consent decree dated Monday in which he did not admit any campaign violations. His fine was the maximum--three times the amount of the alleged violations.

Hedgecock declined comment on the fine, and his civil attorneys said de la Fuente’s action has no bearing on the civil case that remains against the mayor. The FPPC’s suit, filed last October, seeks nearly $1 million from Hedgecock in civil penalties.

“It’s certainly not a domino effect because Roque is the only minor player,” said John R. Wertz, who defends Hedgecock. “The monetary claims against him were insignificant compared to everyone else who is in there for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don’t anticipate any (other) settlements of this nature.”

De la Fuente’s attorney, Roy Bell, said his client decided to pay the FPPC fine because his legal bills in the protracted civil case had already reached more than $35,000 and were expected to be more than $100,000 when the civil trial was concluded.

“It’s an economic decision,” Bell said.

Although the consent decree was dated Monday, Bell said De la Fuente agreed to sign the statement to settle the case last month, before Hedgecock was convicted on 13 felony conspiracy and perjury counts.

The FPPC suit was filed a month after Hedgecock, his political consultant Tom Shepard, and J. David & Co. executives J. David (Jerry) Dominelli and Nancy Hoover were indicted by a county grand jury on charges of felony conspiracy and perjury. Since then, a judge has ordered all progress on the civil suit halted until there is a resolution of Hedgecock’s criminal case.

De la Fuente was accused in the civil suit of using employees of his D. Dollar money exchange house near the Mexican border as fronts for $3,000 worth of campaign donations. San Diego ordinances prohibit anyone from making a donation of more than $250 in a mayoral or City Council race.

In some cases, the $250 donations allegedly made in the names of currency exchange employees were equal to their weekly salaries.