OXNARD : Bar Owner Gets Jail Term for Bad Checks

The owner of an Oxnard topless bar was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for writing bad checks for work done at his business.

John Gray, 38, already has paid the $16,000 restitution for the bad checks, and he pledged in court through his attorney to repay anyone else who lost money because of his actions.

He will begin serving his jail sentence after he is released from federal custody for an unrelated case in which he made a false statement to get a contract with the Navy.

The restitution in the federal case, which Gray also has been ordered to pay, is $134,000, said Mark Aveis, Ventura County deputy district attorney.

Gray pleaded guilty last month in Superior Court to four felony charges of writing bad checks. In exchange for his plea and payment of full restitution, prosecutors agreed to dismiss six other charges.

Many of the checks were used to pay contractors working on Gray’s Spearmint Rhino Club.

Gray’s attorney, John Weston, said during the sentencing that his client “has not been a saint” but decided at the end of last year to live his life differently and take responsibility for his misdeeds.

Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. ordered the jail sentence as a condition of placing Gray on probation for five years and eight months. In addition to requiring restitution to individuals who received Gray’s bad checks, Campbell ordered the defendant to pay $2,000 to a state restitution fund for other crime victims.

After the hearing, Aveis said he does not know if Gray is serious about changing his life, but added that he is willing to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt.

“I hope that he understands that this conduct is just intolerable,” the prosecutor said.

“He has a substantial record of doing this kind of business.”