OXNARD : Ex-Club Promoters Fight Theft Charges

Defense attorneys for two former promoters of an Oxnard card casino asked a Superior Court judge Friday to throw out charges of grand theft against their clients, saying there is no evidence they stole $10,000 in an unrelated construction deal.

But a prosecutor urged Superior Court Judge Allan Steele to let the charges stand, saying the defendants split the money after lying to get it from a group of local investors.

Michael E. Wooten, 45, of Camarillo and Frank Marasco, 48, of Ventura are each charged with one felony count of grand theft.

In a separate case, the defendants are charged with six misdemeanor counts of money laundering in connection with illegal contributions allegedly made to local officials, including two Oxnard councilmen. The defendants had proposed a card-club casino for Oxnard, but the City Council eventually rejected the idea.

In the grand-theft case, the defendants allegedly submitted a false $10,000 voucher to a consortium of Ventura County investors for work on a development project in Santa Paula, prosecutors said.

Instead of paying a construction firm for overseeing the work, Wooten and Marasco spent the money, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff G. Bennett said.

“I know exactly where this money went,” Bennett said. “It went right in the (defendants’) pockets.”

But defense attorneys said there is no evidence the defendants broke any law. They said Wooten and Marasco supervised the project themselves.

Defense lawyers also argued that the case against their clients would not even have a foundation in a civil court.

“If you can’t have civil damages how in the heck can you put this in a criminal arena?” asked Wooten’s attorney, Richard C. Loy.

Steele will rule on the matter later.