THOUSAND OAKS : 3 Plead Not Guilty to Fraud Charges
Three men accused in one of the biggest alleged fraud schemes in Ventura County history pleaded not guilty in Superior Court Monday to all charges of conspiracy, grand theft and securities fraud.
Olen B. Phillips of Thousand Oaks, Charles J. Francoeur of Agoura Hills and Felix Laumann of Cambria were arrested in early February after the Ventura County grand jury handed down an 81-count indictment against them.
The indictment says they bilked 21 people out of more than $3 million, but investigators said that as many as 2,000 investors may have lost more than $30 million.
The trial for the three defendants is scheduled to begin in August. Attorneys for Phillips and Francoeur waived their rights to a trial within 60 days of arraignment to have more time to review the cases. The attorneys already have more than 1,600 pages of information to study, they said.
But Laumann’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender John Voigtsberger, said his client is not interested in waiting that long. He said he plans to ask to have the charges dismissed and to have his client tried separately from the other two defendants.
“Laumann was an employee of the company acting on information received from Phillips and Francoeur,” Voigtsberger said.
“I think it’s wrong and unfair to lump the three of them together in one action.”
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