Restaurant Employee Won’t Face Charges of Obstructing Justice

After accusing a restaurant security manager of hindering a manslaughter investigation, the Ventura County district attorney’s office said Monday that it is unable to prosecute the employee because it cannot prove that he intended to obstruct justice.

“We obviously had a responsibility to ferret out the truth,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory D. Totten, in defending the office’s probe of Chuck Collins, corporate security manager for Reuben’s Restaurant in Thousand Oaks.

“The truth is, he hindered our investigation--unquestionably,” Totten continued. “The other truth is, we are unable to prove he intentionally did that.”

Collins’ lawyer said Monday he was researching the possibility of a lawsuit against the district attorney’s office for defamation and emotional distress.

“This is a guy who’s got credentials a mile long,” said Encino attorney Barry L. Cohen. “He was a police officer for 10 years, won all sorts of awards, was president and vice president and chairman of a lot of associations--all security related--and all of a sudden things come out in the papers saying he obstructed justice,” said Cohen.

A company official has said Collins is a former Fullerton police officer.

The two-month probe arose from the investigation of another restaurant employee, cook Lyzah Trost of Malibu, who is charged with vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in the death of a 27-year-old highway worker.

Trost is accused of striking and killing David Ewing on April 5 after consuming “a number of drinks” at the restaurant and driving off despite co-workers’ protests. She is to go on trial Oct. 2 in Ventura County Superior Court.

In a June 29 letter to the Restaurant Group of Irvine, parent company of Reuben’s Restaurant, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury criticized the “complete lack of cooperation demonstrated by Reuben’s” in connection with the Trost case, and particularly “the outrageous conduct” of Collins.

Totten reiterated allegations Monday that Collins tried to dissuade Reuben’s employees from cooperating with investigators from the California Highway Patrol and district attorney’s office.

“He contacted witnesses the day following the collision . . . and told at least one witness not to say anything to anyone about this case, and that witness feared their job was in jeopardy if they cooperated with law enforcement authorities,” Totten said.

In a July 13 letter responding to Bradbury’s complaints, Restaurant Group President Norman Habermann defended Collins’ refusal to release employee names and phone numbers, saying he protected the privacy of Reuben’s workers. Habermann wrote that his company “has a policy of not divulging the names, addresses or telephone numbers of its employees without a subpoena or court order.”

Habermann also wrote that Collins’ advice to employees was consistent with company policy that employees “should, in all instances, cooperate fully with law enforcement officials.”

As an example of Collins’ cooperation, Cohen on Monday cited conference calls Collins set up so that restaurant employees could be interviewed by CHP investigators without Collins releasing their addresses or phone numbers.