Talent Recruiter Will Be Tried on Sexual Charges

The 17-year-old girl arrived in San Diego last summer, lured by promises of a movie role and modeling jobs that would have her marketing everything from cosmetics to high-tech products.

The teen-ager said she left her home in Dearborn, Mich., an affluent suburb of Detroit, at the urging of Dale Normand, 35, who had offered her a role in a movie he was producing, a “cross between James Bond and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ ”

The modeling jobs, the girl said Normand assured her, would come without much effort after the movie, which he “guaranteed will sell.” But, less than a year later, the girl returned to Michigan, distraught, and, according to law enforcement officials, a victim of sexual abuse by Normand.

On Friday, she and her father had returned to San Diego, where she testified in a preliminary hearing for Normand, who was ordered by Municipal Judge Lisa Guy-Schall to stand trial on a variety of sex charges involving a minor. Normand was ordered to return to court June 22 for scheduling of a trial. If convicted of the charges, he could be imprisoned for a maximum of three years.

Other Troubles for Normand

The criminal charges are not the only troubles that have visited Normand, a Canadian with thinning hair who often wears heavy gold jewelry. Ohio officials say he is under investigation for possible illegal securities sales. And he was accused of sexual misconduct with another teen-ager in a civil court procedure in San Diego last year.

In August, that 18-year-old San Carlos woman obtained a restraining order against Normand after she alleged that Normand “used lies and deception to have sex with me” and accused him of running “a fraudulent business,” according to court documents.

In an interview with The Times last summer, Normand denied the allegations made by the local teen-ager, but acknowledged that he made no effort to contest them in court. Normand has refused to discuss the criminal charges against him, on the advice of his attorney, Robert Grimes.

Like the teen-ager from Michigan, the San Carlos woman said she was hired by Normand to appear in a movie. Both said they eventually moved in with Normand in his Clairemont home.

Early in 1988, a company set up by Normand called the Marquee Movie Group Inc. sent out letters and fliers, soliciting young women for roles in a movie titled “Running the Edge.” The solicitations promised a movie role and modeling jobs selling “high-class and sophisticated products” for qualified applicants. The letters and fliers generated several dozen responses to Normand’s office.

Attracted Police Attention

Normand’s talent search attracted the attention of police in April, 1988, when vice officers began investigating complaints from parents and young women suspicious of Normand’s motives.

“We were concerned because some of the girls he was dealing with were as young as 16. . . . There was a lot of talk about sex. Some girls told my investigators that Normand wanted them all to be on the pill. . . . We were very uncomfortable with the situation,” said Lt. Dan Johnson, head of the Police Department’s vice unit.

Johnson’s investigators were told by several girls of bizarre claims by Normand that he was a CIA operative who did occasional jobs for the spy agency. The woman who obtained a restraining order against Normand, speaking to The Times on the condition that she not be named, said he would sometimes disappear over the weekend and reappear on Monday, claiming that he had just returned from an assassination mission for the CIA in Latin America.

The purported victim of Normand’s alleged sexual assault testified at a preliminary hearing this week that he claimed that the international terrorist Carlos had a contract to kill him.

Johnson said his investigators observed about a dozen young women hired by Normand going through military close-order drills in the parking lot of the Mission Valley building where Normand had his office last year.

Beautiful Female Rambo

In the 1988 interview, Normand said the women would be featured as “The I-Team” in the movie. Normand said an I-Team member should be a beautiful female Rambo, who is articulate, sophisticated and “everything you would look for in a proper woman.”

Normand acknowledged that he has no previous movie-making experience. “I’m a venture capitalist; I take risks,” he said.

Questions have also been raised about some of Normand’s business practices. Much of the work for the movie was supposedly being done in the Spartan quarters that Marquee Movie Group shared in a Mission Valley office building with several other companies also run by Normand. But the Secretary of State’s office, which registers corporations in the state, says it has no record of Marquee Movie Group.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg McClain, who is prosecuting Normand on the sex charges, said that Normand has organized “at least 50,” and perhaps as many as 200, businesses with questionable reputations.

Ohio officials told The Times that Normand is the subject of an investigation involving the illegal sale of securities in a scheme that defrauded investors of about $300,000. An Englishman described as Normand’s associate has already been charged in the Ohio case.

Investigating Securities Sales

A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Commerce said that the state Division of Securities is investigating accusations against Normand of selling unregulated and unlicensed securities in Ohio. Fred Alverson, the spokesman, said that Normand allegedly used Heritage Securities Corp., a company he founded in San Diego, to sell limited shares in an Ohio company called Stellex Inc.

Heritage Securities was not licensed to sell securities in Ohio, Alverson said. According to Alverson, Normand and Leon Eden, owner of Stellex, allegedly “took at least 10 investors for about $300,000.” Normand is still under investigation, but Eden has been charged in the case and is fighting extradition from California, Alverson said.

Eden, who could not be reached for comment, recently owned a company called San Diego Circuitry in Carlsbad, Alverson said.

Dr. William Funk and his wife, Mary, both of San Diego, said they invested $5,000 in an alternative energy venture that Normand offered through a company he founded called Cane Energy Group Inc. In a telephone interview, Mary Funk said Normand sold them securities in the energy company through Heritage Securities in 1985.

The Funks signed a letter of intent on Nov. 11, 1985, and gave Normand $5,000 with the understanding that the money would go into an escrow account until they paid $20,000 more to buy a one-fifth interest in the energy venture, Mary Funk said. But, after reading the prospectus, the couple decided to withdraw their investment two weeks later and asked for their $5,000 back.

‘Seemed Smooth, Sincere’

“He seemed kind of smooth and sincere at first, telling us that we were going to get our money back,” Funk said. “But, after a while, it became pretty obvious that we weren’t. . . . He made numerous promises, saying he would have the money for us next week, or by Tuesday at midnight. We’re still waiting four years later.”

Officials at the California Secretary of State’s office said Heritage Securities Corp. was suspended from doing business in the state by the Franchise Tax Board on Feb. 2, 1987, for failure to pay the annual $300 corporate state tax. Although Normand was also using Heritage to sell securities in California, officials at the Department of Corporations said that Normand’s company was never licensed to sell securities in the state. Cane Energy Group, like many of the companies founded and registered by Normand in California, was also suspended by the Franchise Tax Board.

Neither Funk nor other investors have sued Normand in connection with their investments.

Normand declined to comment on the Ohio investigation, allegations that he owes investors money or questions about the registration of his companies.

Operating Downtown Company

Even as he faces trial on sexual misconduct charges, Normand is operating a company called Marquee Productions Inc. in downtown San Diego, identified as “a division of Marquee Movie Group Inc.,” which recruits young women for fashion shows and television commercials. Although the company name suggests that it is a corporation, Marquee Productions Inc. is not registered with the Secretary of State’s office.

Normand’s Marquee Movie Group is not affiliated with the Marquee Entertainment Group Corp. in La Mesa, a company in good standing with the state. Nor is it connected with Jeff Marcus’ Santee-based entertainment company, Marquee Productions, which provides clowns and magicians for parties and other events.

“We hope that people don’t confuse us and think that we’re affiliated with Normand. We’re not,” Marcus said.