Christmas Cartoon Caper Leads Producer Into Prison

Three years after pleading no contest to six felony counts in an investment scheme in which dozens of retirees and school teachers lost $1.3 million, a Pasadena film producer was sentenced Monday to two years in state prison.

George Le Fave, 42, who had promised returns of more than 30% on investments centered on the distribution of an animated TV cartoon, “The Bear That Slept Through Christmas,” slumped in a chair, head in his lap, as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gordon Ringer ordered him imprisoned for unlawfully selling securities.

“In some significant ways,” Ringer said, “Mr. Le Fave is the grinch who stole Christmas. Only at the very last minute, five minutes before sentencing, 9.5 years after the first dime was taken . . . Mr. Le Fave said he was sorry.”

Indeed, it was nearly a decade ago that Le Fave began collecting money from Burbank-area residents for the production and distribution of television specials and films. By mid-1979, Le Fave, whose Bear film did air on network television, was losing money and he was forced by investors to file for bankruptcy.

In mid-1982, the producer agreed to plead no contest to six felony counts of selling unregistered securities and selling securities by false representation. The plea was in exchange for dismissal of 41 other charges, including 23 counts of grand theft.

But then the delays--in the form of 24 court continuances--began, nearly all of them at the request of defense counsel Howard L. Weitzman, who was busy defending auto maker John Z. DeLorean on drug-trafficking charges and Cathy Evelyn Smith on murder charges in the drug-overdose death of comedian John Belushi.

When it finally got under way last month, the sentencing hearing itself became one of the longest in memory in Los Angeles, taking up parts of 10 days. Calling investors, accountants, and finally Le Fave himself to the witness stand, Weitzman presented evidence that his client was a legitimate producer and that he never pocketed investors’ funds for his own purposes.

Ringer, however, was not swayed, even by the fact that the investors--several of whom said they did not feel Le Fave should be imprisoned--were to have received interest rates above the legal ceiling.

“Granted usurious interest was charged, but it was his idea,” the judge said. “ . . . I don’t know whether people in the movie industry invest in other people’s projects . . . But the one thing they have done from time immemorial is get lawyers. One phone call to a storefront lawyer . . . (would show) that this interest is beyond that allowed by the law.

“George believes in George to the exclusion of everyone else in the universe . . . And for what? For being a very big person with a lot of people looking up to him.”

Although Le Fave, who will begin serving his sentence Jan. 6, can win parole in less than a year, Weitzman said the penalty was “inappropriate.”

“I don’t think George Le Fave should go to jail,” he said. “Prisons are for criminals who are dangerous to society.”

Pleading with Ringer for mercy, Le Fave, with tears flowing from his eyes, acknowledged that he “made some very drastic mistakes. I had wild ambitions . . . and I’m very sorry I put the people in this position.”

But the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert M. Youngdahl, called the sentence light (Le Fave faced six years in prison) and questioned Le Fave’s sincerity.

“George again is living off his charm, his personality and probably even his acting ability,” he said.