San Diego

J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for a fraud conviction, is recovering after suffering a mild stroke at the Pleasanton Federal Correctional Facility a few days ago, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.

“From my last report early this morning, he was responding to medication and doing well. It is hoped he could return to the prison within a few days,” assistant U.S. Attorney George Hardy said.

Dominelli, 44, was convicted last March after pleading guilty to fraud and tax evasion relating to the bankruptcy of his J. David & Co. money trading firm in 1984.

Dominelli was taken to Valley Memorial Hospital in Livermore, about 50 miles southeast of San Francisco, Hardy said.

Hardy did not know if Dominelli has suffered side effects from this stroke, his second one since October. For months after the first stroke, Dominelli was “almost to the point where you couldn’t communicate with him . . . he still has a speech impediment,” Hardy said.

In a separate case last month, Dominelli pleaded guilty to charges of plotting to finance illegally the campaign of former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock by conspiring to funnel $350,000 of J. David money into the campaign.