Ex-Nestande Aide Accused of Thefts at County Offices

Six months after paying restitution for more than 100 phone calls to sexually explicit tape recordings, a former aide to resigned Supervisor Bruce Nestande was arrested Thursday in connection with a series of mysterious nighttime break-ins at supervisors’ offices last year.

John Joseph Stoffel, 24, of Fullerton was arrested on suspicion of burglary Thursday morning in the parking lot of the Brea Mall, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson. He was released on his own recognizance Thursday afternoon.

Stoffel was identified through a fingerprint match made last week with a new, computerized print identification system. The match was not made sooner, Olson said, because Stoffel was not originally a suspect in the burglaries.

“We didn’t have a hit (match) on him until last week,” Olson said. “Since then we had determined he was down here, and he was placed under surveillance.”

A year ago, Stoffel--then a county government intern on Nestande’s staff and a member of the county’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission--took a leave of absence to work for Republican political campaigns in Marin County.

Confession Obtained

However, last October, sheriff’s investigators who interviewed Stoffel in Northern California obtained a confession from him about so-called dial-a-porn calls he made from Nestande’s and two other supervisors’ offices.

The calls were first disclosed by The Times through checks of supervisors’ phone records, which are public information. Stoffel resigned his county job and paid $236.49 in restitution, according to authorities.

The Times later reported that Stoffel’s resume, submitted to the county for his internship in Nestande’s office, claimed that he had been a student at two colleges where officials said he was never enrolled.

Meanwhile, the break-ins remained unsolved. They involved thefts totaling hundreds of dollars in cash, desk rifling and attempts to open a safe in board Chairman Roger R. Stanton’s office.

Security Checks Ordered

Supervisors ordered security checks last spring. A deputy sheriff posing as a civilian walked into the area near the supervisors’ offices in the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana and got as far as some of their personal offices without being stopped or questioned by anyone.

Last summer, the supervisors changed locks on their doors, installed panic buttons, tightened security around their meetings and made access to back room areas more difficult.

Olson said Thursday that Stoffel listed his occupation as “sales” and gave the Fullerton address of his parents. He could not be reached for comment.

Stanton and other board members also were unavailable for comment.