Hill Convicted of Extortion in State Capitol Sting Case

After only eight hours of deliberation, a federal jury on Thursday found state Sen. Frank C. Hill (R-Whittier) guilty of using his elected office to extort $2,500 from an undercover FBI agent who was part of a Capitol sting operation.

Hill, an assemblyman at the time of the extortion in 1988, was found guilty on all three counts on which he was charged: extortion, conspiracy and money laundering. He faces a sentence that could exceed six years in prison.

Hill, the fifth and last state legislator convicted in the ongoing federal investigation of corruption in Sacramento, does not have to resign. He declined to comment after the verdict.

But the office of Gov. Pete Wilson said the governor is expected to set a date by July 1 for a special election to replace Hill, in the expectation that he will resign.

The jury also found former Democratic Senate aide Terry E. Frost guilty of one count of conspiracy for his part in steering the undercover agent and a federal informant to those who could help them win passage of a bogus special-interest bill. He faces about two years in prison.

When the verdict was read aloud to a packed courtroom late in the afternoon, neither Hill nor Frost showed any emotion. At one point, Hill put a comforting hand on the back of one of his attorneys, Stephen D. Miller. But Hill’s wife, relatives and many of the legislative aides who had waited for the jury’s decision broke into sobs.

Frost, who had worked for a time as a lobbyist but is now unemployed, said he had no idea what he would do next. “I don’t know what there is to appeal,” he said. “We’re going to talk about it.”

Hill and Frost will remain free without bail until their sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 12.

State legislators are not required to resign their offices when they are convicted of crimes. The state Constitution allows each house of the Legislature to determine who is fit to serve. In recent cases, convicted legislators have stepped down voluntarily--in one case only after threat of formal expulsion.

In the Capitol, where news of Hill’s conviction spread rapidly late Thursday, there was already talk of who might succeed him in his heavily Republican San Gabriel Valley district.

For federal prosecutors, the verdict brought the end to a long series of prosecutions that grew out of a government sting operation known as “Bri-spec,” for Bribery-special interest.

That corruption investigation tarnished the image of California politics--bringing the conviction of five state legislators as well as numerous aides, lobbyists, and other government officials.

In response to the earliest convictions, the Legislature changed the rules of conduct for legislators and staff, and required legislators and lobbyists to take courses in government ethics. Although some critics contend that the reforms did not go far enough, the change ended the practice of legislators taking sizable gifts and honorariums, such as the $2,500 that Hill took from the undercover FBI agent six years ago.

After the verdict, the chief prosecutor in the Hill-Frost case, Assistant U.S. Atty. John K. Vincent, announced that the curtain had finally been drawn on cases growing out of the sting.

“This will be the final prosecution out of the Bri-spec investigation that we anticipate at this time,” Vincent said. But he left open the possibility that his office, together with the FBI, might be looking at other public officials as a result of information gathered during the sting.

Asked to comment about his office’s record in corruption prosecutions--all 14 individuals who were charged were convicted or pleaded guilty--Vincent said: “We weren’t looking for a perfect record. We were just looking to enforce the law.”

One juror said that the panel had little trouble finding the defendants guilty.

Juror Audrey Russell of Carmichael said: “The evidence was in the videotapes. It was very clear he (Hill) was guilty.”

Russell, an accounting technician with the state Employment Development Department, acknowledged that actually proclaiming someone guilty of a crime had been more difficult than she thought it would be. “I think there was a natural sympathy for Hill, especially with his family sitting there every day--even though I didn’t have any doubt about his guilt,” she said.

But she came to believe that Hill, like many political figures, had succumbed to the trappings of office. “He may have started out honest but like a lot of politicians got caught up in all the power,” she said.

Hill and Frost were originally charged along with former Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale.

However, after months of maintaining his innocence and vowing to fight the charge, Nolan surprised supporters by making a deal with prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence. In February, he pleaded guilty to one count of using his office as a racketeering enterprise and he is serving a 33-month sentence at the federal prison camp at Dublin.

Even after Nolan entered his guilty plea--in court and under oath--the legislator remained unrepentant. He later explained that he decided to stop fighting the charges out of concern for his young family and fear of a longer sentence.

In making his deal, Nolan refused to cooperate with authorities. And he was not a witness in the trial of his alleged co-conspirators, Hill and Frost.

The key witness in the case was a former Nolan aide, Karin Watson, who pleaded guilty to one count of extorting payments from an undercover FBI agent in 1989. In return for her cooperation, the prosecution recommended that she be sentenced to six months in a halfway house. Her sentencing has been delayed until after the Hill-Frost trial.

Watson, who once worked for Hill when he was in the Assembly, described her legislative job as raising money for Republican legislators. “My whole world revolves around making money for myself and others,” she said in a 1988 conversation secretly recorded by an undercover informant.

During the trial, Hill described Watson as “bold and brassy”--someone who had arranged the $2,500 honorarium without any prompting from him. Hill’s attorneys tried to cast doubt on Watson’s credibility by showing that her account of events was clouded by the abundant champagne supplied by FBI undercover agents.

But as in all of the sting cases, the most damaging evidence against Hill and Frost was the tapes of secretly recorded conversations.

And for Hill, the most troublesome recording was a black-and-white videotape of his hourlong meeting in a dimly lighted hotel room with an undercover FBI agent using the name George Miller. It was at this meeting, in June, 1988, that Hill took a $2,500 check from Miller, who was posing as a gregarious Southern businessman trying to win support for a bogus special interest bill that would help him build a shrimp processing plant near Sacramento.

Miller--actually FBI Agent George W. Murray--testified that the check was in exchange for Hill’s agreement to use his influence to persuade then-Gov. George Deukmejian to sign the legislation. But Hill flatly denied that he ever agreed to take money in return for his help.

The payment, Hill said, was an honorarium, for taking the time to develop a relationship with the supposed businessman. It was perfectly legal at the time to take the money, which, he said was “for upholding my end of the bargain . . . spending time with him.”

But Vincent peppered Hill with questions about why he had taken such a substantial payment for doing little more than walking to the hotel across from the Capitol and chatting with the bogus businessman. “Two thousand, five hundred an hour?” asked an incredulous Vincent.

“I wasn’t getting paid by the hour,” snapped Hill.

Among those snared in the sting in addition to Hill and Nolan and aides Frost and Watson, were former Sens. Paul B. Carpenter and Joseph B. Montoya and legislative aides Tyrone H. Netters and Darryl O. Freeman. All four are currently serving time in prison, except for Carpenter, who fled before he was sentenced to Costa Rica. An aide to Montoya, Amiel Jaramillo, who was indicted in the sting eventually pleaded guilty to the unrelated charge of lying on a Veterans Administration loan application.

And then there were spinoffs of the sting. Yolo County Sheriff Rod Graham and Assistant Sheriff Wendell Luttrull both pleaded guilty to extorting campaign contributions.

And undercover informants led investigators to the door of state Sen. Alan E. Robbins (D-Van Nuys). At first, it appeared that the veteran legislator would not be charged because of his relatively minor role in the sting legislation.

But the FBI discovered that Robbins, along with California Coastal Commissioner Mark L. Nathanson, had extorted almost $250,000 from a San Diego hotel developer. Both men eventually pleaded guilty to corruption charges. And Robbins, while still a sitting senator, agreed to go undercover, wearing a hidden recording device.

The evidence he gathered led to the conviction of insurance industry lobbyist Clayton R. Jackson, who is now serving time at the Dublin prison camp while the verdict is appealed.

Times staff writers Virginia Ellis, Jerry Gillam, Carl Ingram and Dan Morain contributed to this story.

Sacramento Corruption

Fourteen people have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the federal government’s probe of corruption at the state Capitol.

* Frank Hill, Republican state senator from Whittier, convicted Thursday of extortion, conspiracy and money laundering. Sentence pending.

* Terry Frost, former aide to Senate Democrats, convicted Thursday of one count of conspiracy. Sentence pending.

* Pat Nolan, former Republican assemblyman from Glendale, pleaded guilty Feb. 18, 1994, to one count of racketeering. Sentenced to 33 months in prison.

* Clayton Jackson, former lobbyist, convicted Dec. 1, 1993, of 10 counts of racketeering, mail fraud and money laundering. Sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

* Paul Carpenter, former state senator from Downey and board of equalization member, convicted Dec. 1, 1993, of 11 counts of mail fraud, obstruction of justice and money laundering. Fled to Costa Rica, where he is in jail awaiting extradition. Sentence pending.

* Mark Nathanson, former California Coastal Commissioner, pleaded guilty June 9, 1993, to two counts of racketeering and tax evasion. Sentenced to four years, nine months in prison.

* Alan Robbins, former Democratic senator from Van Nuys, pleaded guilty Dec. 16, 1991, to racketeering and income tax fraud. Sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.

* Joseph Montoya, former Democratic senator from Whittier, convicted Feb. 2, 1990, of seven counts of extorting campaign contributions, racketeering and money laundering. Sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. Five counts later overturned, but sentence unchanged.

* Amiel Jaramillo, former aide to Montoya, indicted on sting-related charges but pleaded guilty May 16, 1990, to an unrelated count of lying on a government loan application. Sentenced to 90 days.

* Karin Watson, former Republican aide to Nolan and others, pleaded guilty to extortion Nov. 28, 1989. Sentence pending.

* Tyrone Netters, former Democratic aide to Assemblywoman Gwen Moore, convicted Oct. 9, 1991, of nine counts of extortion, racketeering, conspiracy and tax evasion. Sentenced to four years, three months.

* Darryl Freeman, former lobbyist and Democratic legislative aide, convicted Oct. 9, 1991, of two counts of conspiracy and aiding an extortion. Sentenced to two years.

* Ron Graham, Yolo County sheriff, pleaded guilty on Feb. 28, 1990, to extorting campaign contributions. Sentenced to one year in prison.

* Wendell Luttrull, former Yolo County assistant sheriff, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 1988, to extorting campaign contributions. Sentenced to 90 days.