SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Bogus Memorabilia Seller Sentenced

A man who says he turned to crime to support his methamphetamine addiction was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for trying to sell bogus baseball memorabilia.

Harold Berg (Hal) Gardner, 37, was arrested during a sting operation when Orange County sheriff’s deputies met Gardner under the guise of buying documents carrying the signatures of Hall of Fame greats such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle.

While the price of sports memorabilia has skyrocketed over the years, so has the number of cases involving fraudulent items, officials said.

On Tuesday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Rackauckas Jr. also placed Gardner on three years’ probation and ordered him to receive drug counseling.

Gardner pleaded guilty in June to three counts of forgery and one count of grand theft, according to court records. He is also suspected of trying to bilk memorabilia buyers throughout the Southland, including Los Angeles and San Diego.

Attorneys could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Gardner told officials he began selling the phony documents in exchange for drugs, according to a sentencing report prepared by the county probation department.

Gardner has four prior convictions, for crimes ranging from a 1976 burglary in Colorado to grand larceny and theft in Kansas in 1977 and misdemeanor burglary in Orange County in 1993.