Montgomery Gets 3 Years’ Probation in Conflict Case

Former Moorpark City Councilman David Scott Montgomery was sentenced by a Ventura County Superior Court judge Wednesday to one day in jail and three years’ probation for criminal conflict of interest charges.

Ignoring both prosecution and probation officials, Judge Charles Campbell kept Montgomery out of jail by giving him credit for having served one day because the former councilman was booked into County Jail and released several hours later in October when he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Campbell said further jail time was unnecessary.

“Those involved with it every day forget what it can be like for someone to get pulled into the criminal justice system,” Campbell said. “They forget what it is like to get arrested, booked into jail . . . to have your life scrutinized in the news.”

Then looking at Montgomery, flanked by his defense attorney James Farley and his wife Trisha, the judge said, “This is probably a nightmare he can’t believe he’s in.”

Montgomery, 42, was also fined $1,000 and ordered to pay an additional $200 to the state crime victim’s restitution fund.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis, who prosecuted the case, had wanted the judge to sentence Montgomery to at least 20 days in jail.

“[Montgomery] still doesn’t admit to this day that he broke the law,” Aveis said. “Merely having to resign from office is not what the state contemplates.”

In a report to the court, Montgomery’s probation officer, Leesa Varela, recommended that Montgomery be sentenced to 45 days in jail.

“It is unfortunate that the defendant chose to jeopardize his career in public service over a mere $3,500,” Varela said in the report. “His advisement during the probation interview that he was unaware that such a conflict of interest existed is not believable particularly considering the extent of his involvement in the solid waste arena.”

In October, Montgomery resigned from the Moorpark City Council immediately after he pleaded guilty to one charge each of felony and misdemeanor conflict of interest for taking a $3,500 loan from a waste company executive whose firm was negotiating a contract to haul trash in the city.

Soon after making the plea, however, Montgomery and his attorney tried to recant the decision, saying the former councilman had been bullied and coerced into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit.

Since that initial plea, Montgomery--through a series of attorneys and several legal motions--has repeatedly tried to take back the plea. The sentencing, which was initially set for late November, was postponed seven times while the court heard those motions. Montgomery’s last motion to withdraw the plea was denied in June.

Defense attorney Farley tried again during Wednesday’s hearing to persuade Campbell that the case should be thrown out for lack of evidence, but the judge denied the motion.

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Farley was, however, more convincing in his argument that jail time was unnecessary, because his client had suffered enough.

Forcing his client into jail, even for a short time, might result in Montgomery losing the first steady job he has held in 10 years, Farley said.

“This is a good job,” he said. “It’s a chance for [Montgomery and his family] to rebuild their lives and get back on track.”

For the past year, Montgomery has held a $44,000-a-year job as a sales manager for a computer printer supply company in Chatsworth--a job that requires him to travel.

“He’s got places to go and things to do,” Farley said.

In Moorpark, news that the criminal case may finally be complete and that Montgomery will not be jailed was well-received by his friends and supporters.

“It must be a relief that it’s over for him and his family,” said Mayor Paul Lawrason, who has known Montgomery since the two began their careers in Moorpark politics in the mid-1980s.

Lawrason said the offense did not deserve jail time.

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“Well, he already served time in jail,” Lawrason said. “They took him into custody the day he pled guilty. He was in jail already.”

After the sentence was handed down, Farley huddled with Montgomery and his wife, telling them they could appeal the sentence, but that it would also mean he would have to return to court and be dragged through the process again.

Neither Farley nor Montgomery would comment on the sentence or whether they plan to appeal.

In a separate matter, Montgomery still faces civil charges that he violated state election law during his unsuccessful 1994 campaign for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors and the 1992 race for his seat on the Moorpark City Council.

Late last month, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission charged Montgomery with 22 violations of campaign disclosure laws. He faces possible fines of up to $44,000. A hearing on the matter is not expected until the end of the year, according to state officials.

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Montgomery’s case is one of only a handful of successful prosecutions of Ventura County public figures in recent years.

In 1993, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s then-new political corruption unit gained misdemeanor money-laundering convictions against Michael E. Wooten and Frank Marasco, two promoters of an Oxnard card club.

Two years earlier, Community College trustee Tom Ely was convicted of embezzlement. And in 1991, former state job-training official Robert Munoz of Oxnard pleaded guilty to criminal conflict of interest for accepting consulting fees from a grower on whose state contract he voted.

In 1987, Moorpark City Councilman Danny Woolard was convicted of embezzling $5,500 from the city’s post office where he worked. The year before that county Supervisor Edwin A. Jones pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace and public drunkenness. And in 1970, county Supervisor H. F. Robins was convicted of accepting bribes.

Times photographer Alan Hagman contributed to this story

* REACTION

Hailed by some, others question ex-official’s integrity. B10