2 Get Jail Terms for Violating Charity Solicitation Law

A Garden Grove man Thursday received a 120-day jail term and his wife received 30 days in jail for violating the state’s charitable-solicitation law. They were the first two telephone solicitors in Orange County to be prosecuted under the statute.

Central Municipal Judge Randell L. Wilkinson, who earlier this week had ordered a new trial for 34 of the theft counts against John Feldman and Hoa Thi Adams, also placed both on three years of supervised probation that prevents them from engaging in any telephone solicitation.

In all, the couple were convicted of 92 counts of theft, making false or misleading statements and violation of a court order to obey the law that requires solicitors to tell donors how much of their money will actually go to charities.

Feldman, 39, and Adams, 33, 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 between July 1, 1986, and Jan. 20, 1988.

The convictions culminated a three-year campaign against the couple by Deputy Dist. Atty. Gay Geiser-Sandoval, who had recommended that Feldman and Adams be given five-year prison sentences.

Wilkinson, in sentencing Feldman, alluded to the former police officer’s reluctance to refrain from unlawful telephone solicitation even after court orders were issued against him and his wife.

The judge also said that had he not ordered a new trial on 34 of the theft counts, punishment would have been much more severe.

“There is no question that you would be facing a very lengthy jail sentence,” Wilkinson told Feldman. “You are not a novice at telephone solicitation. You were repeatedly warned that you better start conforming with the law.

“You stubbornly refused to comply with the law.”

Defense attorneys Ernest C. Chen and Dennis M. McNerney had argued that money kept by Feldman and Adams was not out of line with the percentages taken by operators of some other charities.

Chen and McNerney said they would appeal the convictions. Feldman had his $25,000 bond increased to $50,000, but Wilkinson gave him one week to post the additional surety. Adams remained free on her own recognizance.

Wilkinson also set Sept. 12 for the retrial on the 34 theft counts. However, Geiser-Sandoval said that she did not know if the district attorney’s office would pursue the case.

“We have to decide what we’re going to do,” she said.