Bail Given Alleged Plotter Against Father

A Costa Mesa attorney charged with hiring a man to kill his father suffers from long-term psychological problems and takes daily anti-depressant medication, according to testimony at his bail hearing Wednesday.

A federal magistrate ordered Joseph Walter Shambaugh, 31, of Riverside, released from custody on $20,000 bond so he can continue receiving treatment.

Shambaugh faces multiple federal charges for allegedly contacting a person he believed to be a hit man to murder his father and a business associate. The so-called hit man turned out to be an undercover agent for the FBI.

“I’m taking a chance on you,” said U.S. Magistrate John C. Kronenberg as he ordered Shambaugh released over the strong objections of a federal prosecutor.

Kronenberg admonished Shambaugh to attend all court appearances and not try to contact his father because “you’re in enough trouble without adding to it.”

Shambaugh, a heavy-set, balding man with tinted glasses, promised Kronenberg he would abide by all the conditions of his release.

William Henry Darnold, 64, a federal prison inmate serving time in Oklahoma, also was charged in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday.

In February, 1985, Darnold allegedly arranged a meeting between Shambaugh and a Beverly Hills man who introduced Shambaugh to the FBI agent posing as a hit man. Shambaugh allegedly provided the man with $1,000 in cash, a semiautomatic pistol, a silencer and two pairs of rubber gloves, according to the indictment. If convicted on all counts, Shambaugh and Darnold face maximum prison terms of 35 years, plus fines of up to $70,000.

An FBI agent presented the gun and silencer as evidence, but Assistant U.S. Atty. Jon Cederberg failed to convince the magistrate that Shambaugh should be kept behind bars.

Cederberg argued that Shambaugh should be held without bail at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institute because he presents a danger to the community.

Kronenberg pointed out, however, that the FBI had waited two years to arrest him.

“How can you justify not doing anything and then saying he is a danger and should be locked up?” asked Kronenberg, who also ordered prison officials to provide Shambaugh with a daily dose of his anti-depressant medication until he is released.

Shambaugh has been under a psychotherapist’s care for two years, according to Alan I. Rubin, one of his attorneys. Rubin said Shambaugh suffers from depression.

Rubin declined to comment on why Shambaugh might have wanted his father killed but said, “One can presume there were family problems.”

Shambaugh’s mother and several family friends attended Wednesday’s bail hearing.

“I would love to talk to you, but I can’t,” said Beverly Wilson, Shambaugh’s mother. Wilson, who lives in Apple Valley, said her son’s attorneys asked her not to speak to the press.

The father, Walter Shambaugh, a retired Anaheim attorney, could not be reached for comment.

An FBI agent assigned to the case said he did not know where the elder Shambaugh was.

Steven Szu Hong Sung, the second target of the alleged murder-for-hire plot, is in prison somewhere in the Far East--possibly Taiwan, according to the agent. He declined to say what kind of business relationship existed between Shambaugh and Sung, who once shared an office, according to federal prosecutors.

Joseph Shambaugh was suspended from the California Bar in September, 1986, for failing to pay his dues. Last Friday, he joined the firm of Galvin & Plyler. He was arrested Monday at the firm’s office on Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

“He worked for us one day before his arrest, and his arrest came as a complete surprise,” G. Michael Galvin said Wednesday. Galvin said Shambaugh was hired to work as a trial attorney for the firm.

Shambaugh was divorced in June, 1982, according to Orange County Superior Court records.