Ex-Councilman Loses Appeal on Extortion

A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld former Carson Councilman Walter. J. (Jake) Egan’s conviction on two counts of extortion in a case involving convicted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty.

But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Egan’s conviction on 12 counts of mail fraud, in line with a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Egan, who was convicted in 1986 and served 9 months in the federal prison at Terminal Island, reacted with dry humor to the decision upholding the convictions.

“Like Abraham Lincoln said about the man being run out of town on a rail, ‘If it wasn’t for the honor of the thing, I’d have rather walked,’ ” he said.

“My attorney told me I had a 98% chance of winning it, that it was the strongest appeal he ever filed.”

Egan, who runs the Aable Muffler Center in Torrance, said he would have to consult with his attorney before deciding whether to pursue further appeals. Egan’s attorney could not be reached.

Former Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard Drooyan, who prosecuted Egan, said he was pleased that the extortion convictions were upheld.

The extortion counts alleged that Egan demanded thousands of dollars from Moriarty in return for favoring the Orange County businessman’s plan to build a mobile home park on a former dump in Carson.

In his appeal of the extortion conviction, Egan argued that the trial judge’s instructions to the jury were insufficient because they did not specify that intent to extort had to be proved. The appeal court held that the instructions to the jury, while not precisely conforming to the language adopted in a later decision, were sufficient.

The mail fraud counts alleged that Egan had defrauded the public when some of the $40,000 he allegedly received from Moriarty and his associates was used for political mailers targeted against candidates who opposed the mobile home park plans. In addition, some of the counts alleged fraud in that his political campaign finance statements did not disclose contributions from Moriarty.

The appellate panel ruled that the mail fraud counts had to be overturned to conform with a 1987 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that the federal mail fraud statute did not apply to political corruption cases in which the victims suffered no financial loss.

A number of celebrated cases had been brought under the mail-fraud statute. The legal theory--rejected by the Supreme Court--was that the mail fraud statute applied because dishonesty in government constituted fraud, even if citizens did not suffer any monetary loss.

Jan Lawrence Handzlik, attorney for Moriarty, who has been convicted of mail fraud counts only, said the appellate ruling “will only bolster Mr. Moriarty’s argument” in his effort to reverse his convictions. Moriarty testified against Egan at the councilman’s trial.