Indicted Ex-Marshal Says Favors Mistaken for Bribes

A former U.S. marshal indicted on charges of accepting illegal gratuities says investigators misunderstood a friendship that included personal loans and other favors between him and the owner of a firm that held a federal contract.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday charged Joseph Gieniec, 43, of Santa Ana with accepting $4,232 from Joseph Rydzewski, owner of Lyons International Security, a Santa Ana company hired by the government to guard property seized from drug traffickers. Also indicted in the case was U.S. Marshal Gordon Tornberg, 59, of Tustin, who allegedly was given $3,456 by Rydzewski. Rydzewski, 33, of Santa Ana, was charged with offering money to Gieniec and to a third marshal, Eugene Howell, who was not indicted.

Gieniec said Rydzewski was a friend who watched his home while on vacation and whom he entrusted with money to pay his bills while he was away. The indictment charges that paying those bills constituted a bribe.

‘I Can’t Hire Him’

“Usually when people accept bribes, someone gives someone a bribe for them to do something for them,” Gieniec said. “How could be bribe me? I’m a deputy. I can’t hire him. I can’t fire him.”

However, prosecutors say that the indictment does not accuse the men of accepting or paying bribes in exchange for a specific action, but rather deals with gifts of money that were illegal because of Rydzewski’s contract with the government.

Gieniec also offered explanations for other alleged gratuities in the indictment. He said that Rydzewski gave him money to buy business supplies for Rydzewski in Korea, where Gieniec vacationed in 1984, and that he has receipts supporting the purchases. Gieniec speculated that the indictment also included money that Rydzewski paid to Gieniec’s Korean-born wife to publicize the security business in the Asian community.

And, Gieniec added, he once loaned Rydzewski more than $5,000 that was never repaid. “It looks like I’m giving the contractor money, not the other way around,” Gieniec said.

Gieniec and Tornberg both were deputy marshals at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles when the alleged gratuities were made. Gieniec left the U.S. marshal service in 1986, but Tornberg still works for the service. Rydzewski has closed his security business, Gieniec said.

Rydzewski was not available for comment, and Tornberg declined comment on the charges.