THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : New Charges to Be Filed Against Possible Witness

New criminal charges will be filed today against Westside businesswoman Mary Anne Gerchas, a potential defense witness in the O.J. Simpson trial, the district attorney’s office said Monday.

Gerchas’ attorney, William T. Graysen, said he was told that there could be as many as three new charges against his client--the theft of a diamond, writing a check with insufficient funds and the use of an altered driver’s license.

Graysen said he believes that the charges should be civil, not criminal, and are being pursued as crimes solely because Gerchas has been named as a possible defense witness in the Simpson murder case.

Gerchas was charged in February with using a phony credit card to defraud the JW Marriott Hotel in Century City out of $24,000 during a three-month stay there last summer. Two days after her arraignment on those charges, she was arrested at her Westside Pavilion shopping center jewelry store on suspicion of making false statements on a credit application to buy a new car.

Court records show that she has been sued at least 34 times in recent years on allegations of defrauding or failing to pay suppliers, customers, landlords, attorneys and an elderly aunt.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin confirmed Friday that new charges will be filed and said she will ask that Gerchas’ bail be increased from $45,000 to $95,000. But Rubin declined to discuss the new charges, saying it would be inappropriate to do so before they are filed this morning in West Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Graysen, however, called a news conference at his Century City office to announce details that he said Rubin had relayed to him.

The defense attorney said Rubin had told him that one charge will allege the grand theft of a diamond.

“She was dealing with a diamond dealer, and she was unable to pay,” Graysen said. “She had given the dealer other jewelry as collateral. This should be a civil matter.”

Graysen did not name the dealer, but the court records showed that Gerchas has been sued at least nine times by diamond importer Louis Pearl. According to Pearl’s previous statements, Gerchas reneged on her promise to pay him $30,000 for a four-carat diamond that he gave her on consignment. Pearl could not be reached for comment Monday.

Graysen said another new charge involves the use of an altered driver’s license to open a bank account. He said that same driver’s license was part of the earlier charge involving the car purchase.

The third new charge, he said, accuses Gerchas of writing a bad check on a bank account that had been closed (he did not say whether it was the same account as the one in the second charge).

Graysen said his client thought that the account was good because her family had always deposited funds to cover her checks in the past.

The attorney said the third charge could carry an extra penalty because it accuses his client of committing a crime while free on bail on previous charges.

Gerchas attended Monday’s news conference but heeded her attorney’s advice to remain silent. Her only remark was to tell a reporter that her jewelry store is no longer in business.

In January, Simpson’s lawyers announced that Gerchas was prepared to testify that she saw four men fleeing from the home where Simpson’s wife and her friend were slain. A few days later, prosecutor Marcia Clark told the Simpson jury that Gerchas had told conflicting stories about her whereabouts on the night of the killings, describing Gerchas as “a known liar and a Simpson case groupie.”

The Simpson defense team has not confirmed that Gerchas will testify. On Monday, she nodded vigorously when asked if she was sticking by her story about the four men, and Graysen said she would “obey any subpoena” to testify.