COUNTYWIDE : County Confirms $475,000 Settlement

Breaking weeks of silence, the county formally disclosed Thursday that it has paid a private investigator $475,000 to settle two federal lawsuits alleging that Sheriff Brad Gates improperly investigated his critics and issued gun permits to his friends.

“I’m resigned to the fact that it is over. It wasn’t worth it,” said Preston Guillory, 45, of Santa Ana, who has pursued the sheriff in court for more than a decade.

Guillory, Ty Ritter and his brother Frank first sued Gates in U.S. District Court 11 years ago after they were repeatedly denied concealed weapons permits--Guillory for a perceived lack of moral character and the Ritters, who had a bodyguard business, on grounds they lacked a good reason to have one.

They charged that Gates’ gun permit process was so capricious and fraught with cronyism that it violated their constitutional right of due process. Although Guillory has dropped out of the case, the Ritters are continuing the lawsuit.

Guillory sued again in 1985, alleging that Gates improperly initiated an unsuccessful criminal prosecution of him because he had filed the gun permit suit and was working as a private investigator on behalf of a political opponent of the sheriff. Last March, a jury awarded Guillory $189,894 in damages, but both sides appealed aspects of the case.

Gates has maintained that his process of granting or denying concealed weapons permits is fair and that those given the privilege have legitimate reasons and good moral backgrounds. In the second lawsuit, the sheriff contended that there was enough evidence to justify a criminal investigation of Guillory. Gates and his attorneys declined to comment on the agreement.

The county officially announced the settlement Thursday in a terse two-page news release that sets forth the basics of the agreement worked out last month. The Times reported on Feb. 17 that the county had paid $475,000 to end the litigation.

Under terms of the settlement, Guillory received almost $290,000, while the county paid his lawyers, Michael Cisarik and Meir J. Westreich, $185,000 in legal fees. In addition, Guillory agreed not to testify on behalf of the Ritters or seek a concealed weapons permit for at least two years in Southern California.