Ex-Bookkeeper for Club Pleads Guilty

The former bookkeeper of the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach pleaded guilty Friday to a sole count of felony grand theft, admitting she stole more than $150,000 in an elaborate scheme that took advantage of the club owner’s dyslexia-related difficulty in reading.

Margaret Michelle Wood, 29, who entered her plea in Torrance Superior Court, faces up to five years in state prison when she is sentenced Dec. 5. Wood, who was arrested in March, remains free on $20,000 bail.

Because of club owner Michael Lacey’s dyslexia, Wood served as his reading eyes. Police have said they believe that Wood forged signatures on checks made out to herself, took funds out of cash deposit bags and falsified documents.

“This is no fault of his own,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd Rubenstein, the prosecutor in the case, said Friday of the 44-year-old Lacey, who is well known in entertainment circles and in the South Bay for his generosity.

“He got ripped off by someone now convicted of a felony and facing serious punishment.”

Lacey opened the club in 1978. Six days a week, the truly famous--Jay Leno is a regular--and those yearning for stardom take to the stage to do their shtick.

After weathering the recession that hit the South Bay particularly hard in the early 1990s, Lacey saw business at the club pick up in recent years. Nevertheless, he and general manager Dana Klein wondered earlier this year why there was so little money in the club’s bank account.

In early March, Lacey decided to have an independent accountant check the books.

Two days later, Lacey subsequently told police, and Wood confessed she had stolen about $27,500.

In an interview in April, Wood’s prior attorney said the bookkeeper had taken $50,000 and was willing to repay that amount over time.

The lawyer, Robert Ernenwein, also said Wood’s family was undergoing financial difficulties. He did not elaborate. Wood is a mother of three.

In court Friday after entering her guilty plea, Wood was ordered to pay $176,600 in restitution. Prosecutors alleged that she took the money between April 1995 and March 1997.

In an interview afterward, Lacey stressed that he was “not a vindictive person.” But, noting the long hours Klein and others have labored to keep the club afloat, he said he hoped that Wood would be sentenced to prison.

“I’m loyal to my staff,” he said. “If they had to spend seven days a week not seeing family and friends, working weekends, in early, leaving late, I think . . . it’s only fair that now [Wood] spend time away from her friends and family.”

Wood’s current attorney, W. Ronald Seabold, did not return a call seeking comment.