Judge Delays Citron’s Sentencing a 7th Time

For the seventh time since he pleaded guilty, the sentencing of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron was delayed Friday when a judge ruled he didn’t want publicity about the sentencing to influence jurors in the trial of former Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, who was appointed earlier this year to sentence Citron and to preside over Rubino’s trial in August, said he will sentence Citron after that trial, in October or November.

David W. Wiechert, attorney for the 71-year-old former treasurer, told the court Citron’s sentencing would generate “immense publicity” and would reveal “our position as to who is ultimately responsible” for the events that led to county’s loss of $1.64 billion.

The sentencing hearing could last two days, Wiechert said, and would certainly attract the interest of television news reporters in bringing cameras into the courtroom.

“From a publicity standpoint, it would be a problem,” Wiechert said, adding the “prospective jurors will [also] be reading about it on the front page” of newspapers.

Czuleger said he was concerned about how publicity might affect the selection of a jury to hear the case against Rubino, who is charged with two counts of aiding and abetting Citron in a scheme to misappropriate money from the county’s investment pool.

“I don’t want to put anything more out in the public that will . . . interfere with the Rubino case,” the judge said.

The judge noted that he had earlier Friday denied a motion by Rubino to move the trial out of Orange County, as well as to dismiss the charges.

Czuleger said Rubino’s attorney told him he intended to call Citron, who pleaded guilty in April 1994 to six felony counts of securities fraud and misappropriation, as a witness.

Citron faces up to 14 years in prison, but a Probation Department report has recommended that he instead be sentenced to a year or less in the county jail and probation.

Wiechert reminded the court that Citron was the first and only county official to “step up to the plate and admit what he did” and has continued to cooperate in the county’s ongoing criminal investigations.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Anderson acknowledged Citron’s cooperation, but said his office was not asking for the sentencing to be delayed, as it did earlier this year.

“The events have unfolded slowly because we have a mammoth investigation,” Anderson said, adding that if Citron had not pleaded guilty the court might only now be setting a date for his trial.

Anderson said “we need to hear Mr. Citron’s testimony” at Rubino’s trial. He said the differing accounts the grand jury heard about the diversion of funds from the county’s investment pool left matters badly in need of further examination and clarification.

Czuleger, who delayed the sentencing in March because he needed time to the read the 9,000 pages of grand jury testimony, expressed qualms about the lengthy delay in sentencing. He said his initial inclination when appointed to the case was to sentence Citron quickly.

“I wonder if I haven’t caused more problems by continuing it,” the judge said.