Moreno Trial Plot Thickens With New Bribery Allegation

Testimony in the public corruption case against Santa Ana City Councilman Ted R. Moreno ended with a twist Wednesday as a top official with the district attorney’s office accused Moreno of soliciting a bribe in 1992.

Donald Blankenship, who at the time was president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn., said Moreno offered help in salary negotiations in exchange for a donation from the union.

“The first words out of his mouth were: ‘You need a contract, and I need money,’ ” said Blankenship, who is now chief investigator for Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas.

Blankenship said he immediately notified Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters of the alleged bribe. Walters on Wednesday testified that he passed along the exchange to the FBI and the district attorney’s office.

Moreno took the stand and strongly denied the allegations, testifying that he had never met with Blankenship because he was working at the time. “How could I be at two places at one time?” he said.

Moreno is accused of extorting $31,000 from a Santa Ana businessman as part of a scheme to fund the campaigns of his political allies. Federal prosecutors said they called Blankenship as a witness to support their allegations that Moreno’s tenure was marked by corruption.

But they declined to comment on why Moreno was not charged in connection with Blankenship’s allegations.

Blankenship said Moreno arrived at his office without an appointment and made the offer during a brief, one-sided conversation. Blankenship said he “lectured” Moreno, telling him that his offer was illegal.

He said the union never endorsed Moreno for public office after the alleged incident.

During closing arguments, the opposing attorneys offered vastly different portraits of Moreno and his relationship with the businessman, a paid FBI informant.

Moreno’s attorney, Dean Steward, told jurors that Moreno was entrapped and threatened by the informant, Vaskin “Victor” Koshkerian, who was paid $53,000 by the FBI.

He said it was Koshkerian who first approached Moreno and offered him money for a favorable vote on his liquor license permit. Once hooked, Steward said Koshkerian threatened to destroy Moreno if he pulled out of their deal.

At one point, Steward held up a large photograph of the Santa Ana City Hall bathroom where the two first met, and remarked to the jury: “Isn’t it ironic that the government’s investigation started in a toilet,” he said. “I’d suggest to you that the investigation didn’t get much higher than that.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Jean Kawahara reiterated the prosecution’s central contention that Moreno was a politician driven by a lust for power at any cost. She dismissed the entrapment defense, and played several audio and video tapes that showed Moreno laughing, and at one point, high-fiving Koshkerian after an alleged payoff.

“Are those the words and actions of a man forced to pick up cash . . . ? Are they the words of a man that felt he had a gun to his head? Of course not,” Kawahara said.