School Official Convicted of Taping Calls

Oxnard school district administrator Pedro R. Placencia was convicted Wednesday of secretly tape-recording the telephone calls of trustee James Suter, a finding that could send Placencia to prison for more than three years.

Capping a political corruption case that rocked the elementary school district, Placencia, 56, was found guilty of six felony counts of illegally eavesdropping by intercepting and recording 18 of Suter’s telephone calls over five days in June.

The 25-year school district employee sat motionless and stared straight ahead as the court clerk read the verdicts returned by the five-man, seven-woman jury after two days of deliberation.

Placencia, who is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11, refused comment after the judgment was handed down.

But his attorney, Victor Salas, said he will ask Municipal Judge Roland N. Purnell at the sentencing to approve his motion to reduce the felony convictions to misdemeanors in an effort to minimize jail time and save his client’s job.

“Our hope is that once the judge hears what’s on the tapes he will agree that this was misdemeanor conduct,” Salas said outside court. “We are confident that once the content of the tapes is played he will find out that this was not political activity.”

In pushing for a conviction, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis argued that Placencia was gathering intelligence for political purposes when he used a radio scanner to record the phone conversations.

And because the taping took place for political gain, Aveis said Wednesday he will oppose any effort to reduce the felonies to misdemeanors.

“I believe the conduct, the gravity of the conduct and the flat-out denial of any involvement by the defendant, denotes a continuing cover-up,” Aveis said.

Placencia, former head of the district’s migrant education program, was indicted by the grand jury in September) on the six felony counts and later arrested at his school district office.

A search warrant served on Placencia’s home turned up a tape recorder and radio scanner, like the one used to record Suter’s conversations.

Suter was not on hand for the verdicts, having suffered a stroke after being hospitalized more than a month ago because of heart problems. His wife, Helen, said she believes the stress associated with the case contributed to her husband’s decline.

“I’m so relieved,” Helen Suter said. “I’m going to let him know that the court case is over, and I’m sure he will understand that and be very happy.”

The bulk of the recorded conversations centered around two controversial school district issues: the job performance of Supt. Bernard Korenstein and a push to reverse a decision to name the district’s newest campus after a former superintendent.

Placencia has been on leave from his job without pay or benefits since Nov. 1. And Salas said Wednesday that the only hope Placencia has of regaining his job is to reduce the felony convictions.

Salas said school board members ultimately will decide whether Placencia keeps his job--a decision that will follow an administrative hearing scheduled to take place within 60 days.

Ironically, Salas said, some of those trustees figured prominently in Placencia’s prosecution, a case that highlighted long-standing tensions on the Oxnard school board.

“I think it’s going to have a direct impact on the next election,” Salas said of the case. “The citizens of Oxnard are going to realize who and what [kind of people] are sitting on the board.”

The tapes came to light last year after they were anonymously left on the doorstep of school board member Mary Barreto, who reportedly played one for fellow trustee Arthur Joe Lopez. Lopez soon alerted school district officials, who in turn alerted law enforcement authorities.

Barreto initially was a target of the investigation, but the Ventura County Grand Jury found insufficient evidence to support an indictment against her.

Lopez, who now serves as the board’s president, said he hopes trustees will now be able to put the matter behind them and get on with their mission of educating children.

“As far as I’m concerned, this was the act of one person acting irresponsibly and placing himself above the law,” Lopez said. “But I don’t think there was any irreparable harm done. At this point the thing that concerns us most is getting back to the business at hand.”