Ex-Official of Vista Court Is Sentenced to 120 Days

William Hartford, who prosecutors say created “an atmosphere of corruption” as administrator of the Vista Municipal Court, was ordered Tuesday to serve 120 days in a work-furlough program for his felony conviction on one count of misappropriating government funds.

San Diego County Municipal Judge H. Ronald Domnitz said Hartford--who quit the $55,000-a-year job in January while he was under criminal investigation--was guilty “not only of theft, but of the breach of an important trust.”

Domnitz rejected the request of Charles Goldberg, Hartford’s defense attorney, that the dapper, gray-haired 12-year court employee be permitted to remain free and do community service work rather than be placed in custody.

Goldberg noted that Hartford, besides his full-time employment with a North County equipment rental company, was doing volunteer work for the San Diego County Mental Health Assn. and SHARE, a self-help food program.

“He is working five days a week to try to support his family, and he’s working two days a week to try to make up to the community for this embarrassment,” Goldberg said.

But Domnitz said the gravity of the allegations against Hartford, of Fallbrook, made stronger punishment necessary.

“It’s because of the out and out fabrications, the lies you told, the money you did receive some benefit of and the other people you involved,” Domnitz said as Hartford stood beside his attorney, his head bowed.

Two other court employees, Kathleen DeForge of Escondido and Jo Allen of Oceanside, Hartford’s former secretary, each pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of presenting a false claim for payment. Each was ordered to perform community service in lieu of imprisonment for the felony conviction.

Hartford was charged with 27 counts of embezzlement, perjury and filing false claims in March after an investigation spurred by Vista judges, who were approached by court employees with allegations of wrongdoing. In exchange for the dismissal of the other charges, he pleaded guilty in August to one count of misusing a $1,900 office stamp fund.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Pent argued that Hartford “created an atmosphere of corruption in the North County court,” losing the respect of court personnel and the confidence of the judges in Vista.

“I hesitate to use the expression Jekyll and Hyde,” Pent said, “but I think he was a different man in his family and personal life than he was down at that court.”

Goldberg countered that the bulk of Hartford’s alleged wrongdoing represented efforts by a harried administrator “to shortcut bureaucratic procedures for the benefit of the people working for him.”

For instance, Goldberg said that when Hartford deposited into his own travel account a $6,000 state check reimbursing the county for municipal judges’ temporary service on the Superior Court bench, he was simply trying to avoid the “mumbo-jumbo” of requesting an extra appropriation for his travel costs.

“Maybe that’s Mickey Mouse, but that’s the way government operates,” Pent said.

Hartford also was charged with:

- Billing the county for seminars when he actually was attending classes toward a master’s degree, a non-reimbursable expense.

- Billing the county for conference expenses that already had been paid by another agency.

- Using funds from the office stamp fund to buy meals for judges, visitors and himself.

Besides sentencing Hartford to the work-furlough program, Domnitz ordered him to pay $600 in fines and serve five years’ probation. Domnitz appointed an arbitrator to decide how much Hartford must pay the county as restitution.