Moriarty’s Bid for Immediate Release Falters

In a setback to the hopes of convicted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty for immediate release from prison, prosecutors recommended Wednesday that the former fireworks manufacturer spend 21 more months in federal custody despite his cooperation in a continuing investigation.

Responding to a request by Moriarty for a reduction of a seven-year prison term imposed last year, Chief Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard E. Drooyan praised Moriarty’s cooperation with federal authorities and said a reduction is warranted by his performance as a witness in a series of political corruption trials.

Drooyan, however, said Moriarty’s overall sentence should be reduced to 3 1/2 years in custody. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Moriarty would actually spend 21 months in custody in addition to nine months already served if the recommendation is accepted by U.S. District Judge William Rea, who sentenced Moriarty last year.

Moriarty, in custody at a halfway house in Garden Grove, testified last month during the corruption trial of former Norwalk Assemblyman Bruce E. Young that he hoped to obtain immediate release from prison because of his help in prosecuting Young and other former political and banking associates.

Predicting Release

Associates of Moriarty have said that in recent weeks he has privately predicted his immediate release and has been meeting with officials of his former fireworks company, Pyrotronics Inc., anticipating a speedy return to running the business.

Moriarty’s lawyer, Jan Lawrence Handzlik, declined comment Wednesday when asked if the government recommendation is a blow to Moriarty, adding that Moriarty would have no comment. Handzlik said he will file a response to the government recommendations before a sentence reduction hearing set for Monday.

“We will make our position clear at that time,” Handzlik said. “I will say, however, that Mr. Moriarty is continuing to cooperate with the government in at least three and possibly four more cases and intends to continue to cooperate with the government following Judge Rea’s decision on the sentence reduction question.”

In Drooyan’s recommendation to Rea, the prosecutor noted that Moriarty began serving his seven-year sentence last May 19 at Lompoc Prison Camp and has “provided substantial and valuable cooperation to the government” in its continuing investigation of corrupt activities linked to Moriarty’s various business and political interests.

Drooyan specifically cited the successful prosecutions of Young and former Long Beach and Carson City Councilmen James Wilson and Walter Egan and said the government expects to use Moriarty as a “truthful” witness in future trials if there are additional indictments in the Moriarty case.

“The government has successfully prosecuted two local public officials and a former state official,” Drooyan said. “We seriously doubt that these cases could have been prosecuted without Mr. Moriarty’s cooperation and his truthful testimony.

“Moreover, these prosecutions have been very significant,” Drooyan continued. “They have sparked some discussion of reform in Sacramento, and we believe that they may deter other public officials from defrauding the public in the future.”

Drooyan recommended that Moriarty be allowed to spend the last six months of his remaining time in custody in a “community treatment center” and urged that he be required to perform 1,000 hours of community service in exchange for any sentence reduction.