Charity Thief Arrested in Burglaries

The former chief fund-raiser for Retinitis Pigmentosa International who pleaded guilty to stealing $50,000 from the charity was arrested on suspicion of burglary Monday, moments after a court commissioner ordered him to undergo a psychiatric examination.

Daniel Jay Sonners, 29, had pleaded guilty on Dec. 8 to forging and cashing 16 checks totaling more than $50,000 intended for the charitable organization, which finances eye disease research.

Sonners, who pleaded guilty as part of an agreement with prosecutors, was scheduled to be sentenced Monday. But his sentencing was postponed until May 8 to allow the commissioner to consider the results of the psychiatric examination. Commissioners are empowered, in some cases, to act as judges.

Plea Agreement

As part of the plea agreement, Sonners was to be sentenced to no more than one year in County Jail and was ordered to repay the charitable organization by Dec. 8, 1989, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pargament.

“The whole purpose was for him to keep working so that he can pay the charity the balance of the money he owes them,” Pargament said.

Police had arrested Sonners on July 29, but he was free on $1,000 bail.

Since then, detectives in West Los Angeles said they suspect that Sonners may have been responsible for several burglaries at a private postal service office in Westwood.

On Jan. 19 and 22, a hidden surveillance camera in the Gayley Avenue store videotaped a man who police believed to be Sonners breaking into post office boxes, Detective Mark Fuhrman said.

Police believe that Sonners was stealing checks from post office boxes and using the money to pay back the Retinitis Pigmentosa organization.

“It appears that what he was trying to do was rob from one to pay the other,” Detective Robert Young said.

Sonners had already returned about $25,000 of the money, Pargament said.

Betrayed Trust

Van Nuys Superior Court Commissioner Sherman Juster on Monday told Sonners that he betrayed the trust of charity officials who hired him to plan a telethon aimed at raising $5.5 million for a research project.

“You are obviously very glib, and people trusted you,” Juster said. “They succeed in making money and you steal it from them. I don’t have much sympathy.”

Sonners said he took the money because he was being hounded by creditors, but he stressed that he intended to repay the charity.

“The pressure was just too much,” Sonners said. “What I did was wrong. . . . I’ve disgraced my family and everybody who’s ever known me.”

Sonners’ attorney, Jonathan Ash, said Juster violated the terms of the agreement by ordering his client to undergo a psychiatric examination, which will require Sonners to be in custody for 90 days awaiting the outcome of the examination.

“I think what the judge did was improper,” Ash said outside of court. “I think he reacted emotionally.”

Ash told the court that his client had “compulsive behavior problems” that caused him to turn to stealing to pay his creditors.

Sonners was taken to County Jail. He will undergo the psychiatric evaluation while in custody.