Inquiry Begins on Country Club Election : Lake Sherwood: A grand jury concludes that a David H. Murdock employee voted illegally on a tax measure.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office began a criminal investigation of possible voter fraud on Thursday related to a special tax election for billionaire David H. Murdock’s new Lake Sherwood country club.

The probe was launched on the recommendation of a county grand jury, which concluded in a report released Thursday that a Murdock employee voted illegally in the Jan. 9 election.

In its report, the grand jury asked the district attorney to investigate the conduct not only of the employee but of “any others who may have conspired or otherwise acted to persuade this individual to commit the act.”

The grand jury found that the special election to authorize taxes for the maintenance of the new 1,900-acre Sherwood Country Club and housing project near Thousand Oaks was illegal because the country club’s sole registered voter did not live at the site when he voted.

Richard Terzian, who is foreman at Murdock’s Arabian-horse ranch near the country club, acknowledged in testimony before the grand jury that he no longer lived at the country club when his vote approved a tax for community maintenance and services, according to the jury’s report.

The grand jury discovered that Terzian changed his mailing address from a house at the country club site to Murdock’s horse ranch across Potrero Road five months before the election, Special Assistant Dist. Atty. Donald D. Coleman said.

Coleman, who is the jury’s legal adviser for its continuing investigation into the Murdock project, said his office’s parallel investigation must now determine whether Terzian’s alleged illegal vote was intentional.

Terzian and others who may have assisted him in violating state election law could face felony prosecution and a maximum three-year prison sentence, the prosecutor said.

Terzian could not be reached for comment Thursday either at the Sherwood Country Club development or at Murdock’s ranch.

Even if the election is voided, as recommended by the grand jury, the practical impact would be minimal. A delay in the approval of a tax might slow the delivery of some services to buyers of the 650 houses to be built at the country club.

It might also delay the process by which the developer begins to transfer the cost of community maintenance to new house buyers. None of the houses, priced up to $10 million, has been sold.

January’s special election was part of a common procedure through which new communities create districts that can raise taxes for road maintenance, landscaping, security and other services.

Once some residents move into a project, a community services district can be formed. An election is then held in which residents of the district authorize the levy of a tax to pay for the services.

In the Sherwood Country Club case, Terzian registered as a voter in July, 1988, and within three weeks asked county officials to form a service district, the grand jury reported. The County Board of Supervisors formed the district in April, 1989, and an election was set for last July.

However, a ballot mailed to Terzian was never returned and the Board of Supervisors authorized a second election last October, county election officials said.

As that election approached, a Murdock employee reminded Terzian in an internal memo that he could vote as early as Dec. 5, according to a document obtained by The Times.

“We suggest that you personally drive to the county election office . . . vote in person and return the ballot” to election officials, said the memo from Carol Witchell, an aide to Donald Trotter, president of the Murdock company that is building the country club project.

Witchell recommended that if Terzian had any questions “regarding completion of the ballot,” he should not vote until he called Robert H. Forward Jr., a Los Angeles attorney who represents Murdock.

“We would like to avoid a repeat of the last ballot, which was lost in the mail,” Witchell’s memo said. Copies of the memo were to be sent to Trotter and to Forward, it said.

Contacted Thursday, Witchell refused comment on the memo and the grand jury findings until she could talk with Trotter, who did not return telephone calls.

Carol Klein, a spokeswoman for Murdock, who is out of the country, said he would have no comment on the grand jury’s report.

Prosecutor Coleman said Trotter testified voluntarily before the grand jury, “and we will certainly attempt to interview Mr. Murdock. We have no indication that he will not cooperate.”

When Terzian cast his ballot Dec. 19, the ranch foreman carried with him Witchell’s memo and he allowed county election officials to make a copy of it, said Assistant Registrar of Voters Ruth P. Schepler. She provided a copy of the memo to the grand jury and to The Times.

In addition to recommending a criminal investigation, the grand jury report recommended that the one-voter election be voided and that a “valid and viable” services district be formed.

The jury’s report reflects only one part of its probe into the Sherwood Country Club development.

The grand jury is also investigating whether Murdock is attempting to renege on promises to provide free sewer and water systems to longtime Lake Sherwood residents and to give the lake itself to buyers of his houses, county officials and community residents have told The Times.

Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.