Man Sentenced for Selling Goods With Forged Signature of Reagan

A U.S. District Court judge Monday sentenced a Moorpark man to eight months in federal prison for his role in the sales of sports memorabilia bearing the forged signature of former President Ronald Reagan.

Richard Schwartz, 59, who owned a Canoga Park pawnshop, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters.

In addition, 46-year-old Randolph Espinosa of Ramona, the former Secret Service officer who supplied the memorabilia and who had guarded Reagan for 13 years, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison.

Both men pleaded guilty earlier this year to mail fraud.

Prosecutors say the pair peddled $110,000 worth of fake goods, including baseballs and bats, football helmets and denim jackets, ostensibly signed by Reagan and other presidents and their wives.

Schwartz repaid the $110,000 to customers before he was indicted last fall, his attorney said.

Waters said Espinosa deserved a stiffer sentence because he violated the high trust placed in him when he was assigned to guard Reagan, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc Harris.

Some of the items, which sold for hundreds of dollars each, were eventually peddled on the Home Shopping Network.

“There’s just a lot of money out there,” Harris said. “You look at the frenzy that the Kennedy auction generated. . . . Anybody who would pay $210,000 for the fake pearls Jackie wore--why not buy cowboy boots signed by Ronald Reagan?”

Schwartz’s attorney Joel Levine said it all began when Espinosa approached Schwartz at his pawnshop in late 1994 and suggested the scam. In the wake of Reagan’s announcement that he has Alzheimer’s disease, Schwartz began selling the signed mementos to collectors. He soothed concerns over credibility by sharing intimate details about the Reagans’ life on their Santa Barbara County ranch, collectors said.

Soon the items began flowing in--hundreds of baseballs, bats, a football helmet inscribed “The Gipper,” cowboy boots and even a baseball supposedly signed by John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, Harris said. To skeptics, Schwartz displayed a photograph of Reagan signing the mementos--actually a picture of a Reagan impersonator, Harris said.

Espinosa also produced a certificate of authenticity on Reagan’s stationery, Harris said.

But a skeptical customer retained a handwriting expert, who proclaimed the autographs false. The FBI was contacted, and the agency launched an investigation.

Although Espinosa eventually pleaded guilty, he maintained that some of the items were genuine.

A remorseful Schwartz, who had to borrow money from friends to repay buyers, has agreed to give the sports equipment to the government. Cleansed of the signatures, they will be distributed to Little Leagues and Boys & Girls Clubs.

“Something good came out of it,” Harris said.