Lawyer Named in Paternity Suit Is Charged on 7 Counts

Attorney William Yacobozzi Jr. was charged Wednesday with seven counts of perjury, falsifying documents and obstructing justice for allegedly arranging for another man to substitute for him during blood tests and then lying under oath in a civil paternity lawsuit in which he is a defendant.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said the man who allegedly was Yacobozzi’s stand-in during the blood tests has not been identified. But investigators say they have a picture of the man taken during the tests on March 5 at the Parentage Testing Center Lab at Long Beach Memorial Hospital.

Yacobozzi, a Newport Beach criminal attorney, called the charges “untrue and ridiculous.”

Yacobozzi, 48, and his attorney, William M. Monroe of Santa Ana, appeared in court Wednesday, but Yacobozzi’s arraignment was continued at his request until July 6. He did not enter a plea. If convicted on all the counts, Yacobozzi could face up to eight years in prison.

In a two-page statement, Yacobozzi, an unsuccessful candidate for Congress two years ago, suggested that the district attorney’s office is pressing charges for political reasons and for Yacobozzi’s success as a defense attorney against county prosecutors.

Prosecutors denied Yacobozzi’s charges.

Yacobozzi, who is married and has a family, said he will seek to move the trial out of Orange County “to ensure fairness to all.”

“This is not a case of paternity, or who switched a photograph, or perjury,” he said in the statement. “In my opinion, it goes far beyond these issues. . . . It is said that one cannot fight City Hall. But if my family can stand the fight and if I can keep performing properly for my clients, then I suggest that (district attorney) Mr. Michael Capizzi dig in, because I plan to challenge and fight City Hall.”

The felony complaint said a Superior Court judge had directed Yacobozzi and the mother of the child in a 2-year-old paternity dispute to have blood samples drawn for the purposes of DNA-deoxyribonucleic acid--testing.

It was then, the complaint alleged, that Yacobozzi arranged for another man with similar looks to go to the hospital to give the blood samples. The complaint says the unidentified man used Yacobozzi’s driver’s license as identification at the lab.

If identified, the man who substituted for Yacobozzi could face conspiracy charges, prosecutors said.

The complaint also said Yacobozzi falsified documents in the Orange County Superior Court paternity case and faces five counts of felony perjury.