Sentencing Ordered for Charity Phone Solicitors

A Municipal Court judge Tuesday ordered a new trial on about one-fourth of the 126 counts in which two Garden Grove telephone solicitors had been found guilty of violating the state’s law on charitable solicitations.

However, Municipal Judge Randell L. Wilkinson ordered John Feldman, 39, and Hoa Thi Adams, 33, to return to court Thursday for sentencing on the other 92 guilty verdicts a jury rendered May 11.

They are the first two telephone solicitors convicted in the county for criminal violations of the law, which requires solicitors to tell donors how much of their money will actually go to charities and not be absorbed by expenses.

Wilkinson ordered the new trial on 34 theft counts against the defendants because he said the jury should have separated individual and petty allegations from grand-theft charges.

The other counts against Feldman, a former police officer, and Adams were for violating a court order and making false or misleading statements, in addition to the 29 theft counts that the judge let stand.

Feldman and Adams operated J&H; Productions in Garden Grove. Although the charities for which they raised money existed and some charity events were held, the defendants were accused of promoting other activities that did not take place and of keeping nearly half of the $439,000 they raised.

The convictions came after a three-year campaign in court against the pair by Deputy Dist. Atty. Gay Geiser-Sandoval. She had won court orders in 1985 and 1986 directing Feldman and Adams to obey the solicitation law.

The trial centered on solicitations Feldman and Adams made on behalf of Wheelchair Basketball Assn., the L.A. Stars Wheelchair Basketball Team and the All-American Youth Foundation. From July 1, 1986, to Jan. 20, 1988, the defendants kept $196,775 of the $439,258 raised for the three charities.

One client, Wheelchair Basketball Assn., got none of the $147,202 raised on its behalf, according to court testimony.

Geiser-Sandoval has recommended that Feldman and Adams be sentenced to five years in prison.

The defense said in court that the money kept by Feldman and Adams was not out of line with the percentages taken by operators of some other charities.