Countywide : Man Indicted Over Bid to Buy Hospital

A Los Angeles man was indicted by a Ventura County grand jury on four charges related to a July, 1991, attempt to purchase a San Diego hospital and other schemes, Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury said Thursday.

Liam Patrick Russell, 34, who worked out of an office across from the Ventura County Government Center, is scheduled to be arraigned March 31 on charges of passing a bad check, forgery, grand theft and false personation.

Russell also faces another 31 unrelated felony counts, including grand theft, tax fraud and perjury, handed down by a county grand jury last fall, prosecutors said.

A Superior Court trial is scheduled June 7 on those charges, said Assistant Dist. Atty. James Cloninger, who will prosecute both cases.

Russell was in control of the Gold Coast Services Corp., which was interested in purchasing a San Diego hospital in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings, Cloninger said.

In July, 1991, Russell paid a $250,000 non-refundable deposit on the purchase of General Hospital of San Diego with a check from an account that was closed at an Encino bank, Cloninger said.

“The check had been sent to San Diego from here,” Cloninger said. “Evidently, Mr. Russell was using a Ventura County address.”

The other three charges stem from a February, 1992, scheme in which Russell forged a name to a cellular phone account with Pacific Bell in Ventura and ran up $3,300 in calls, Cloninger said.

Tarzana attorney Jonathan Kissel is representing Russell on the first indictment but said he is not certain he will take the second case.

Kissel downplayed his client’s alleged crimes.

The prosecutor said he plans to file a motion to consolidate the two cases before Russell is arraigned on the second indictment later this month.