Juror Selection Starts Today in Trial for Raabe

The second criminal trial of a county official on charges resulting from Orange County’s bankruptcy begins today with a call for 600 potential jurors, 12 of whom will hear the evidence against Matthew Raabe.

The onetime assistant to former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, Raabe faces five felony counts of fraud and misappropriation of funds.

The 40-year-old certified public accountant has steadfastly insisted since his indictment in May 1995 that he broke no laws and only did what Citron told him to do.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey has set aside the rest of March and all of April for the trial. Each side is expected to call dozens of witnesses.

To speed things up, the district attorney sought the dismissal of a sixth felony count relating to the transfer of securities from the county’s portfolio to the large investment pool managed by Citron.

The $1.64 billion in trading losses in that pool prompted the county to file for bankruptcy in December 1994.

Both sides expect to seat a jury by March 12. The judge will hear motions during the week of March 17, and opening arguments are scheduled to begin March 24. Testimony will continue thereafter until the trial concludes.

Lawyers for Raabe obtained extra funds from the court in January to conduct a survey of 300 potential jurors to see if an impartial jury could be found in Orange County--often the first step toward seeking a change of venue.

But no motion has been filed, and Richard L. Schwartzberg, one of Raabe’s lawyers, said Tuesday, “We’re going to try the case.” He would not discuss the survey.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Anderson said Tuesday that the trial is not likely to produce any “pyrotechnics.”

The large jury pool was requested, Anderson said, so the court could quickly identify and eliminate jurors directly affected by the bankruptcy.

About four dozen witnesses testified before the Orange County Grand Jury that indicted Raabe, the second person to stand trial in the case.

The trial last summer of former Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino on misappropriation charges ended in a hung jury and was later resolved when Rubino pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor.

The grand jury testimony portrayed Raabe as an active participant in the scheme to defraud the 200 school districts, cities and small agencies that invested in the county pool.

The Costa Mesa city treasurer, for example, told grand jurors that only weeks before the bankruptcy Raabe told her the pool still had $1 billion in cash when, in fact, it was near collapse.