4 Arrested in Removal of Court Records

A Van Nuys Municipal Court clerk, her husband and two others have been arrested in connection with a scheme in which records of at least seven drunk driving arrests were removed from court files in exchange for between $1,000 and $1,500 each, authorities said Friday.

The clerk, Beryl Vinson, and her husband, Richard, both 24, were arrested Friday at their Sylmar home. They were charged with three felony counts each of conspiracy to obstruct justice, conspiracy to commit bribery and secreting, removing or destroying files, Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert Lapin said.

Lapin said as many as 36 drunk driving files may have been removed from the clerk’s office in Van Nuys. He said only seven have been confirmed as missing and three have been located.

Once the complaint and other documents in a file are taken, the case “disappears from the court system,” the prosecutor said.

Drug Charge

Also arrested Friday was Betty Bormann, 45, of Sepulveda, who was charged with removing files and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The fourth suspect, Michael Charette, 35, of Sepulveda, was arrested Tuesday and charged with removal of court files and possession of cocaine.

Although prosecutors were reluctant to provide details of the case because the investigation is not yet complete, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen A. Sowders, head of the special investigations division, said a bar in the Sepulveda area served as a focal point for the scheme.

Charette and a woman whose arrest is being sought would bring Bormann money from people who wanted to have records removed from court files, and the waitress in turn would contact the Vinsons, Sowders said.

Beryl Vinson was a supervising criminal clerk until this week, when she was transferred to the night court at the Criminal Courts building downtown, Lapin said. Her husband works for a carpet cleaning concern, investigator Fred Leonhardt said.

Lapin said two other arrest warrants have been issued, but that none of the other suspects is a government employee. He declined to identify them.

Bail for the four arrested was set at $7,500 each.