AIDS Victim, Bid Denied, May Accept Plea Bargain

A federal appeals court Monday refused to overturn an order sending an AIDS victim accused of fraud to Missouri for four months of diagnostic tests.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Sept. 26 order by U. S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk placing Sheldon L. Block in federal custody for tests to determine whether brain damage caused by AIDS has made him mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Block, 36, of Malibu is scheduled to be sent to Springfield today or Wednesday, Assistant U. S. Atty. David A. Katz said.

But defense attorney Mark E. Beck said Monday that Block will probably accept a “rather generous” government plea-bargain offer that would allow him to remain free by acknowledging his guilt and forfeiting most of his about $2 million in assets.

Beck said he may seek slight modifications in the offer, which was made last month, but added, “I think there’s a good chance that a plea will be worked out by tomorrow. If a plea is entered, it would preclude his going to Missouri.”

Block has fought the confinement in Springfield, saying it would constitute a “death sentence” for him.

However, Katz said it is not known whether the judge will accept such a plea from Block, who had asked Hauk to drop the charges against him or indefinitely postpone his trial on 75 counts of mail fraud and one count of racketeering. Block claimed he is physically and mentally incapable of undergoing trial.

Psychiatrist Consulted

A defense psychiatrist testified that Block is “unable to make rational judgments” or participate in his own defense because AIDS has damaged his brain.

Hauk indefinitely delayed Block’s trial, which had been scheduled to begin last Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles. But the judge said federal statutes dealing with the mental competence of defendants required him to immediately commit Block for competence tests.

The barrier to accepting a guilty plea from Block now, Katz said, “is that the state of the record is he’s mentally incompetent to stand trial.”

The three-judge appeals panel included Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, who Sept. 26 issued a temporary order preventing Block’s transfer to the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Mo., where all federal inmates known to have AIDS are housed.

Since the Sept. 26 ruling, Block had been staying in St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach under guard by federal marshals.

Block was among 24 people indicted in February, charged with using a telephone “boiler room” sales operation to sell overpriced or undelivered office equipment to businesses across the country. Block’s company, Venice-based Park Distributing Inc., allegedly grossed $35.4 million from 1981 to 1985 through the scheme, which used post office boxes in Sherman Oaks and Encino.

Twenty-two other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty and another has said he will plead guilty later this month.

If Block is sent to Missouri for tests, he will be allowed to have a physician accompany him on the trip at his own expense, Katz said.