Brea Mayor’s Plea Bargain Is in Jeopardy

Brea Mayor Ronald E. Isles has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of conflict of interest and failing to fully report his financial holdings, but the plea agreement could fall apart if Isles refuses to leave office immediately.

Isles, 54, entered the guilty plea this past Friday to seven misdemeanor counts stemming from his conduct as a City Council member between 1989 and 1991. Three of the counts deal with actions he took that benefited entities in which he had a financial interest, while four deal with loans he failed to report on economic-interest disclosure forms.

Fourteen other counts against him were dismissed in the plea-bargain agreement.

Court documents in Fullerton Municipal Court show that Isles agreed to be placed on three years’ probation and pay fines and assessments totaling $13,500. As part of the agreement, he also agreed not to be a candidate for elective office or act as a lobbyist for four years.

Notations in the documents indicate that the prosecutor, judge and defense attorney all believed that the plea arrangement did not require Isles to step down from his post immediately. His term as mayor and City Council member expire Dec. 1, and he is not running for reelection.

But after the plea agreement was entered in court, the prosecutor, Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. James J. Mulgrew, discovered a section of the state government code that seems to require a city official to resign immediately once he has pleaded guilty to offenses involving his municipal duties.

Because of that, Isles was being given the chance to withdraw his plea and go to trial. He may also choose to keep the plea agreement intact. Both sides planned to go to court today to reach a decision.

Isles, reached at his home Tuesday, said he hoped that the entire matter could be postponed until he leaves office, at which time he would renew his guilty plea. Otherwise, he said he is inclined to stand trial. Mulgrew declined to discuss the case beyond confirming that the plea agreement could be withdrawn because of the newly discovered section of law.

Isles, who was elected to the City Council in 1980 and 1988 and twice served as mayor, still contends that he did nothing wrong, saying he might have been a little careless on his paperwork when he failed to report the loans, and that he reaped no personal financial gain from his actions on the City Council.

Isles’ guilty plea was entered under a provision of law which allows him to state that he does not admit having done anything wrong but agrees to plead guilty because he feels it is in his best interest.

“I admit I was careless, but I wasn’t a criminal,” said Isles, who practices law in Brea. “I was careless in not paying attention to the technical level at which these laws are enforced. I have to take some responsibility for that.”

One of the charges to which he pleaded guilty involved his voting to approve an extension of time so that McBride Development Co. could draft plans for an auto service center on a city-owned parcel. The firm’s controlling owner, Don McBride, was a partner with Isles in another venture, Town & Country Partners. Isles said he sold his 50% interest in Town & Country to McBride in 1988, and remained McBride’s partner “in name only” for tax purposes. The two other conflict-of-interest charges involved his votes approving a final parcel map for a firm that had loaned $925,000 to Isles and McBride and changes to the downtown redevelopment plan, which included three pieces of property he owned.

In addition to failing to report the $925,000 loan on his 1989 and 1990 disclosure forms, Isles also pleaded guilty to failing to report an $840,000 loan from Landmark Bank to McBride, which Isles was paying off, and a $30,000-plus loan from Town & Country Partners, another partnership he had with McBride.

The district attorney’s office has filed a separate complaint against City Councilman Wayne D. Wedin for an unrelated conflict of interest. Wedin, whose term expires Dec. 1, is not running for reelection.

Tuesday, Wedin expressed confidence in Brea’s city government, noting that “things are not always as they appear on the surface.”

“The integrity level of the city is very high for those that know it or take the time to find out,” Wedin said.

Two local businessmen, however, took a dimmer view. They both said the Isles and Wedin cases are a troublesome stain on the city’s reputation at a time when it is trying to lure businesses into its downtown area in a major redevelopment.

“It’s very bad for the city,” said Drew Imler, who owns an engineering consulting business in the city’s downtown and serves on the Brea Small Business Coalition. “It’s a very fine city, but unfortunately, we have some political types who haven’t behaved properly.”

Imler said Isles’ votes on the redevelopment plan fuel the perception that the City Council has played favorites with businesses in remaking its historic downtown, providing good terms for those who are politically well connected and essentially forcing others out of town.

Frank Cotta, who owns a model-train shop downtown, agreed with Imler. He said the city is not being fair as it relocates its downtown merchants in the redevelopment. The city is offering him $60 per square foot when it bought another nearby business for $140 per square foot, Cotta said.

The small business coalition sued to block the redevelopment, contending that the city violated the law by failing to make adequate provisions for the merchants’ relocation. In July, a judge agreed, ordering the city to submit a relocation plan.