Back in Court, Citron Again Waives Right to Sentencing : Bankruptcy: Deputy district attorney says county probation department needs time. Oct. 13 hearing set.

Former Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron appeared in Orange County Superior Court on Friday for a brief hearing at which he again waived his right to sentencing and agreed to return to court Oct. 13 for another hearing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Anderson said Citron waived his right to a speedy sentencing in April when he pleaded guilty to felony charges and, for a second time, waived his legal right to “sentencing within a reasonable amount of time” on Friday.

Anderson said the county’s probation department needs time to prepare a report on Citron that will be used by a judge to help in sentencing. He would not say when he expects Citron will be sentenced.

Citron, 70, faces a maximum 14 years in prison and $10 million in fines after pleading guilty to six felony charges.

Two counts involve making false representations to other government agencies that deposited funds in the county-run investment pool, a violation of the state Corporations Code governing the sale of securities.

Four other counts involve violations of state Penal Code provisions dealing with the misappropriation of public funds, the failure to transfer public funds properly and maintaining false entries in a public record.

The misappropriation charges stem from Citron’s transfer to a county account of $80 million in interest belonging to 200 schools, cities and special districts that had deposits in the investment pool.

When Citron entered his guilty plea in April, prosecutors said they had uncovered no evidence of any personal gain by Citron. Anderson said no new charges have been added since then.

Until he is sentenced, Citron remains free so he can cooperate with district attorney’s investigators who are continuing to probe the Orange County bankruptcy, Anderson said.

Immediately after his guilty plea, Citron began making three visits a week to the district attorney’s office, where he would meet for several hours with prosecutors. However, those meetings have not been taking place for the last 1 1/2 months.

One provision of his plea agreement is that he be allowed to be sentenced in another county if he chooses. Anderson said Citron has not yet formally requested that he be allowed that privilege. Prosecutors say that Citron was offered nothing else in exchange for his guilty plea.

Citron resigned under pressure Dec. 4, two days before the county filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court, precipitating the worst local government financial meltdown in U.S. history.

The investment pool fund that Citron managed lost $1.7 billion in the collapse of his investment scheme, which involved borrowing heavily to buy risky securities whose values declined as interest rates began rising last year.