Roth Is Target of District Attorney’s Investigation : Inquiry: It’s the second probe into allegations that the supervisor may have traded political favors for gifts.

The Orange County district attorney’s office has opened an investigation into criminal allegations surrounding two-term County Supervisor Don R. Roth, an official said Sunday.

It is the second such probe initiated by law enforcement agencies into allegations that Roth may have traded political favors for gifts.

The latest investigation was confirmed Sunday by Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Maurice L. Evans.

“We are looking into allegations surrounding Supervisor Don Roth,” Evans said. “That’s all I can say about it.”

Roth aide Dan Wooldridge said Sunday that the supervisor declined comment about the district attorney’s investigation.

Evans would not comment on whether a grand jury would look into the matter or how the investigation would be coordinated with a separate probe being conducted by the FBI. The FBI confirmed two weeks ago that it had opened an inquiry, which is preliminary to a full investigation, into the relationship between Roth and local businessmen who had business before the Board of Supervisors.

Roth’s ex-wife, Jackie Roth, confirmed Sunday that two men from the district attorney’s office--Investigators Jerry Hodges and Doug Miller--asked her questions Saturday at her home in Anaheim. Hodges is the senior investigator in the district attorney’s Organized Crime/Grand Jury Unit.

Jackie Roth said she was questioned about her ex-husband’s relationship with businessmen Donald and Gerard Dougher, owners of more than a dozen mobile-home parks in Orange County. She said she was also asked about her ex-husband’s weekend getaways to Palm Springs and Santa Catalina Island.

Sources familiar with the investigation said it focuses on criminal allegations that Roth, 71, may have traded political favors for gifts.

Jackie Roth confirmed that Hodges and Miller said they are looking into criminal allegations against the supervisor.

“I would have to say I was shocked when they showed up at my front door,” she said Sunday, adding that she halted the questioning by telling the two investigators that she wanted her attorney present.

Beyond the legal implications of the inquiries, the fact that Roth is being investigated has had a political impact. Some campaign reform activists have used it to call for more regulations on gift giving to elected officials, while several Anaheim area politicians have already begun speculating on possible challengers to Roth when he faces reelection in 1994.

In recent weeks, Roth has been hit with waves of allegations that he failed to disclose on state-required reports a variety of gifts from local business people and political allies including trips, stock and other financial contributions.

The Times has reported that Roth accepted, but did not report, three trips to Santa Catalina Island and what amounted to an $8,500 interest-free loan from the Dougher family.

Neither did he report free stays at a Palm Springs area condominium owned by local developer Magdy Hanna. Four months ago, Roth voted to approve a $5-million project proposed by Hanna on land that Hanna is buying from the Doughers in Midway City.

The Times also reported that Roth failed to report as a gift or as income his receipt of a 2% interest in a sunscreen company founded by Harvey Englander, a leading political consultant.

Roth had disclosed in the state-required report covering 1990 that he owned the stock, but not how he had received it, nor that Englander was associated with the company.

Englander in an interview with The Times last week said the stock was a gift but in a later interview that day described it as compensation for Roth’s services as a company director. In either case, campaign finance experts say, Roth was required to not only disclose that he owned an interest in the company, but to identify it as a gift or as a form of income.

State and local officials are required to report all gifts above $50 as well as any non-governmental income above $250, under regulations of the Fair Political Practices Act of 1974. Roth reported the value of his stock between $1,000 and $10,000. Englander has said Roth sold the stock back to him in 1991 for $10.

Englander has worked on Roth campaigns including his two successful runs for a supervisorial seat. He also works in public relations, marketing and surveying for corporate clients often representing them before lawmakers.

In the wake of the recent revelations, Roth, a former Anaheim mayor whose supervisorial district includes Anaheim, has canceled a Walt Disney Co.-organized trip to France this week, Wooldridge said.