VENTURA : Woman Says Lawyer Offered Her LSD

An 18-year-old woman told a Ventura County Superior Court jury Thursday that lawyer Douglas Andrew Palaschak offered her LSD during an office party when she was a minor.

Melissa Schwentner, a former employee who informed police about the LSD party at Palaschak’s office on May 9, testified that Palaschak and a female co-worker repeatedly offered her the drug. “I was offered by both people, but the first was Douglas,” said Schwentner, who was 17 at the time.

But defense attorney Robert I. Schwartz contended that Palaschak’s invitation to Schwentner to join the private celebration was “not an offer in any way, shape or form” to consume LSD. Palaschak and his secretary, Jessica Jobin, were arrested May 9 after Schwentner alerted police. Palaschak is on trial on charges of possession of LSD, furnishing LSD to a minor and conspiracy. Jobin has been charged with possession of LSD.

Schwentner’s statements to police officers and a grand jury contain conflicting testimony, especially on whether Palaschak offered her LSD, according to the defense.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim George Gibbons argued that Schwentner has never wavered from the truth. “I don’t see any conflict here at all except that she didn’t tell anybody at first that she accepted the LSD because she was afraid it would violate her probation.”

Ventura Police Officer David Matz, one of two officers who arrested Palaschak and Jobin after the LSD party, testified that both were under the influence of LSD when arrested.

“He stated he wasn’t feeling good,” Matz said of Palaschak. “He said he was feeling sick. The room was swimming around. He was observing a lot of colors on the walls around the room.”