D.A. Reassigns 3 Who Supported Bamieh Bid

Two Ventura County prosecutors and a criminal investigator have been reassigned in part because of their support for candidate Ron Bamieh, who was soundly beaten in a bitter contest earlier this month by the district attorney’s handpicked successor.

Prosecutors Adam Pearlman and Mark Pachowicz and investigator Mark Volpei will be transferred to the child support enforcement division early next month under the directive of retiring Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. Their duties will be primarily to go after deadbeat parents.

All three were vocal supporters of Bamieh, who was beaten March 5 by a 2-1 margin by Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Greg Totten, Bradbury’s chosen replacement.

Bradbury acknowledged Friday their support of Bamieh was a factor in his decision to reassign the three, but stressed their overall job performance was also a consideration. He declined to elaborate.

“I can’t say that their conduct during the election did not play a role,” said Bradbury, who will step down at the end of the year after more than two decades in office. “I can say it did not play a major role.”

Pearlman and Pachowicz said they were informed of their transfers by a supervisor, but said they were not given an explanation nor directly contacted by Bradbury. “I’ve got his explanation,” Pearlman said, “which is ‘You supported Ron, you go to child support.’”

Other prosecutors who supported Bamieh said Friday they now fear retribution. Bamieh declined to comment on Bradbury’s move.

The district attorney said he was swapping Pearlman and Pachowicz with two other prosecutors, Eric Bond and Roger Enman, both of whom had been promised a transfer to the felony division after a rotation in child support.

Pearlman and Pachowicz are senior deputy district attorneys who have both tried high-profile felony cases. Pachowicz was one of the prosecutors who sent Spencer Brasure to death row for the 1996 kidnap and torture of 20-year-old Redondo Beach resident Anthony Guest.

Pearlman was the lead prosecutor on the Narinder Virk case, set for trial April 15. The Port Hueneme woman is accused of trying to drown her two children.

“My performance evaluations have been excellent,” Pearlman said. “There’s nothing they’ve told me I’ve been doing wrong.”

Volpei had worked closely with Bamieh on the slaying of 20-year-old college student Katrina Montgomery, who disappeared from an Oxnard party in 1992. Her killer was convicted of first-degree murder last year and received a death sentence.

Volpei, who could not be reached for comment, was recently named investigator of the year by a statewide association.

The reassignment of the three men could have long-term career implications. This summer the state is set to take over the district attorney’s child-support division. Those prosecutors will ultimately lose their status as deputy district attorneys and become state employees, said Mike Botula, spokesman for the new state child-support agency.

In that capacity, they can only pursue misdemeanor cases, he said.

“They become more of a family law attorney or a civil law attorney than a criminal prosecutor,” Botula said.

After the election, Bradbury said he would extend an olive branch to those in the Bamieh camp. “The most important challenge facing us is healing some wounds and mending some relationships,” he said then. “That means a lot of forgiving and forgetting.”

Totten, who could not be reached for comment Friday, also had talked about the importance of mending fences.

But Howard Asher, a senior deputy public defender who has observed Bradbury for 20 years, said this week’s move is more in keeping with his character.

“There is no conceivable explanation for reassigning two experienced prosecutors other than they backed the wrong horse,” Asher said.

“This is payback time for those people who had the temerity to speak their mind about a political issue in their own office. I doubt all the shoes have fallen. My guess is more heads will roll.”

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Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this report.