Agoura Plotter Gets 3 Years in $40,000 Heist

An Agoura man was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for masterminding the 1983 robbery of a courier carrying receipts from the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

Jeffrey Morton Messinger, 34, was convicted and sentenced in April, 1985, for his role in the robbery. A state appellate court in July affirmed the conviction but ordered Messinger resentenced by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Darlene E. Schempp.

Authorities said Messinger recruited three accomplices and tipped them to the courier’s scheduled visit to a Woodland Hills bank on the morning of June 13, 1983.

The courier, Ronald Pfleger, the fair’s financial director, was preparing to deposit more than $200,000 when the three men threatened him with a shotgun and took $40,000, Los Angeles police said.

Prosecutors said during Messinger’s trial that he had learned of the deposit from a friend who was a part-time security guard at the fair, held annually in Agoura.

Two of his accomplices, Edward Shelton, 38, of Simi Valley, and Russell White, 38, of Canoga Park, testified against Messinger in plea agreements with prosecutors. Shelton and White were each sentenced to three years. A third man, Chris Ponish, was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.