Moriarty Aide Gets 4 Years, $45,000 Fine : Judge Calls for Special Grand Jury on ‘Totality’ of Political Corruption Case

A Los Angeles federal judge Monday sentenced Richard Raymond Keith, a one-time confidant of admitted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty, to four years in prison and fined him $45,000 while calling for a special grand jury to look into the “totality” of the Moriarty case.

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. urged federal prosecutors to establish a special panel to investigate all allegations that have surfaced during the 2 1/2-year probe of Moriarty’s political and financial dealings in California. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles currently is looking into the Moriarty case.

“Young people are becoming cynical about politics,” Hatter told Keith as he pronounced sentence. “You cannot be but a danger to society. I have the opportunity to show young people in this country that politics shouldn’t be run the way you and Mr. Moriarty operate.”

Moriarty, an Orange County fireworks manufacturer, last March pleaded guilty to seven mail fraud charges that dealt with making bribes to City of Commerce officials, illegal campaign contributions and kickbacks to bankers in return for loans.

Associates of Moriarty, including Keith, 48, have accused Moriarty of providing prostitutes and illegal campaign contributions to numerous political figures.

Hatter asked Richard E. Drooyan, the senior assistant U.S. attorney who handled the government’s case against Keith, to urge Justice Department officials, particularly Stephen Trott, head of the department’s criminal division, to set up the special grand jury.

Hatter did not elaborate in court on why he felt it necessary to impanel a special grand jury.

Later, in a telephone interview, Hatter said he stands on what he said in the courtroom, but added that he wants the special panel to look into the “totality” of the Moriarty matter.

“I think the air should be cleared,” the judge, a former federal prosecutor, said.

Interpreting Hatter’s request, Keith’s attorney, Brian O’Neill, predicted that it will “goose along” the Moriarty investigation.

“If there’s nothing going on . . . this should get something going,” he said. “If what’s going on is going on too slowly, this should speed it up.”

The investigation into Moriarty’s political activities was launched by the Orange County district attorney’s office in mid-1983, and the Orange County Grand Jury began calling witnesses in the case after a series of articles in The Times disclosed that Moriarty and his associates had contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians throughout the state.

The U.S. attorney’s office joined the probe in March, 1984. And since then, a federal grand jury has periodically called witnesses in connection with the case, according to former Moriarty associates.

Drooyan declined to comment on the sentencing and also refused to say whether he will follow the judge’s recommendation to ask for a special grand jury.

Keith, who pleaded guilty to three counts of income tax evasion, one count of making a false declaration of bankruptcy and one count of making a false statement to a federally insured bank, thought as late as last weekend that he would avoid jail.

Keith, who faced a maximum penalty of 24 years in prison, was visibly shaken when he talked with reporters outside the courtroom following the sentencing. He said that his belief that he might escape jail had “gone by the wayside.”

He said he will ask for a reduction of sentence and will continue to cooperate with federal investigators into political corruption in California.

Outside the courtroom, Keith repeated his long-held belief that the investigation has been compromised by leaks of what he told federal authorities on a confidential basis. And he claimed that certain Orange County politicians were not being pursued by investigators.

Keith was portrayed by his attorney as a “victim of the machinations of W. Patrick Moriarty.”

Moriarty’s attorney, Jan Lawrence Handzlik, said he would have no comment on Keith’s sentencing other than to say, “Mr. Moriarty has accepted responsibility for his own actions. Mr. Keith apparently has not. . . .”

In court, Drooyan painted his own picture of Keith.

“Mr. Keith is a con man. . . . That’s what this case is all about,” Drooyan said. “He’s been doing it for years.”

Argument for Incarceration

Drooyan said Keith should be incarcerated “to protect society against Mr. Keith’s machinations.”

“There is no indication that Keith would not be back (in court) when he fails to file his next tax return,” Drooyan said.

The prosecutor downplayed Keith’s cooperation in the Moriarty investigation, saying that much of the information he provided was often contradictory. “I have substantial questions about Keith’s reliability,” Drooyan said.

In FBI reports made available to the news media, Keith named about 40 businessmen and politicians he said had participated in various wrongdoings, ranging from accepting prostitutes paid for by Moriarty to taking bribes.

Moriarty pleaded guilty to a variety of corruption charges and agreed, like Keith, to be a government witness against politicians who allegedly received favors from the businessman.

He is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 9 before U.S. District Judge William J. Rea.

Keith, a real estate promoter, first came to the public’s attention in 1983 when The Times reported that he contributed $63,000 to prominent California politicians shortly after he filed for bankruptcy in federal court. He made the political contributions through three inactive companies--including one firm whose address was a vacant lot in Irvine.

Aided Influential Politicians

His contributions went to some of the most influential politicians in California, including Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles).

Since the Moriarty investigation began, Keith, now a resident of Westminster, has admitted that the money for most of his political contributions really came from Moriarty.

Keith and another former Moriarty associate, the late John E. (Pete) Murphy, who died of cancer last summer, said they used Moriarty money to procure prostitutes for elected officials, including Assembly Majority Leader Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), then-Assemblyman Bruce Young (D-Norwalk), Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove), Orange County Supervisor Ralph Clark and Los Angeles City Councilman David Cunningham.

All of these politicians have either denied the assertions or refused to comment.