Convicted Ex-S&L; Owner Jailed to Prevent His Fleeing

One day after he was found guilty of bank fraud and conspiracy, a former owner of an Orange thrift was sent to prison Thursday by a federal judge after prosecutors said they were worried he might flee the country given his past conviction for passport fraud.

U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon lifted the $600,000 bail on John L. Molinaro and ordered he be taken to Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. Molinaro cursed deputy marshals as they handcuffed him and led him away.

Molinaro, 48, had been convicted Wednesday on 33 charges of bank fraud, conspiracy and causing false entries to be put into the books of Ramona Savings & Loan.

Jurors in an 11-week trial concluded that Molinaro and former co-owner Donald P. Mangano Sr. had carried out a scheme to defraud Ramona of millions of dollars. Mangano was convicted on 31 charges of bank fraud and conspiracy.

Ramona collapsed in 1986 and subsequently required a $65.5-million bailout of depositors.

Molinaro, a former carpet salesman, served nearly two years in prison after he tried to obtain a passport in 1986 using the birth certificate of a dead man. Federal authorities, who have recovered $3 million from accounts Molinaro set up in the Caribbean, allege in court papers that he was planning on fleeing the country.

Prosecutors in the Ramona case feared he might make another attempt to leave the United States.

Mangano, 52, remained free on $150,000 bail. He was ordered Thursday to remain within the Los Angeles area until sentencing, which was rescheduled for Jan. 8. Molinaro faces up to 165 years in prison and $8.3 million in fines; Mangano could receive a 155-year sentence and $7.8 million in fines.

Kenyon also instructed Mangano not to talk to any of the people who testified during the trial.