Charges Filed Against Two in Alleged Scheme

Almost a year later, criminal charges have been filed against two men who allegedly were part of an alleged scheme involving a $1.38-million Pick Nine betting pool at Hollywood Park June 14, 1989.

Deane Bailey of Hawthorne, a mutuel clerk supervisor at Hollywood Park, and James Farenbaugh of La Crescenta have been charged with conspiracy and grand theft by the Ingelwood District Attorney’s office. Both charges are misdemeanors.

The conspiracy charge carries a penalty of either a year in jail or a $10,000 fine. The theft charge is punishable by six months in jail or a $1,000 fine. Arraignment has been scheduled for Tuesday.

Bailey is charged with processing a Pick Nine ticket that would have been worth $4,860 and then canceling the ticket. The complaint says that Bailey then gave the ticket to Farenbaugh for $20. Farenbaugh is then said to have sold shares in the ticket to patrons in the grandstand.

When shareholders in the loosely formed syndicate tried to collect on the ticket, they were told that it had been canceled and was worthless.

Court documents show that Farenbaugh turned himself in to the California Horse Racing Board on June 24. At that time, Farenbaugh told investigator Frank Fink that his purchase of a canceled Pick Nine ticket was prearranged and that Bailey had originally asked $100 for the ticket. Farenbaugh admits giving Bailey $20 for the ticket.

Joseph Detchemendy III, a mutuel clerk whose confidential statement to investigators was also made public by court documents, admitted to seeing the ticket being punched, canceled and then traded for $20. The statement also says that Bailey asked Detchemendy “not to say anything about the ticket.”

On July 2, 1989, Detchemendy filed a report with the CHRB that he was receiving threatening phone calls at home for being “a snitch.”

Industry sources have told The Times that officials at both Hollywood Park and Santa Anita are more concerned about a civil suit that was filed on behalf of three people allegedly defrauded by the Pick Nine scam.

The tracks are said to be nervous about what a highly publicized civil trial might disclose about an industry that already suffers a credibility problem with the public. Santa Anita has not been named in any complaints, but most of the employees of one track also work for the other.

Sources, who requested that their names not be used for fear of losing their jobs at either track, said they have witnessed similar scams but have not come forward with this information.

Major Langer, a Long Beach attorney, has filed a $1.38-million suit against Hollywood Park, Bailey, Farenbaugh and Detchemendy on behalf of Ben Raygoza of Rosemead, Vartan Avedissian of Montebello and Donaldo Guardino of Long Beach.

The suit alleges that Hollywood Park was negligent in not providing better security to prevent such an incident. Detchemendy is named in the suit for not reporting the incident at the time it happened.

Bob Forgnone, an attorney representing Hollywood Park, said that the case was in the discovery stage. He said that Bailey would not address any aspect of the case in his deposition. Forgnone also said they have been unable to find Farenbaugh.

According to a report filed by CHRB investigator Jeff Crandall, Raygoza paid $1,200 for his share of the ticket and Avedissian, Guardino, Jim Szaoolesi of Marina del Rey, Marti Loewy of Brentwood and Dan Tiech, address unknown, all paid $240 for their shares.

“I have a feeling that race tracks, like other gambling institutions, offer you a lot of ways to make money,” Langer said. “It seems these types of things proliferate around these types of establishments.”