Witness Says He Paid Bribes to Fired Assistant Sheriff for O.C.

A Newport Beach businessman testified Monday that he paid former Orange County Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo at least $25,000 in bribes in an attempt to win the department’s support for a computer chip he designed to stop fleeing vehicles.

Charles H. Gabbard, who turns 69 this week, said the money was camouflaged as “consulting fees” on company checks that were written out to Jaramillo and his wife, Lisa, whom Gabbard said never did any consulting work for him.

The testimony came during a court hearing in which Gabbard, because of his failing health, was allowed to testify against Jaramillo. Prosecutors feared Gabbard would die before taking the witness stand in a trial.

Gabbard’s allegations were immediately attacked outside court by defense attorney Joseph G. Cavallo, who called the inventor a “pathological liar” bent on revenge against Jaramillo for turning his back on Gabbard after learning that Gabbard had a criminal past, serving several state prison terms in the 1960s and ‘70s.

“He’s trying to bamboozle this court,” Cavallo said in the hallway of the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, moments after court adjourned for the day. “If George wanted to hide something, why wouldn’t he just take cash?” He also noted that Jaramillo claimed it on a disclosure form.

Prosecutors allege that from 2000 to 2002, Jaramillo helped arrange demonstrations that were held to showcase a device that Gabbard’s company, CHG Safety Technologies, had developed to disable cars during high-speed chases -- misusing deputies from a specialized patrol unit, squad cars and other county equipment.

If convicted, Jaramillo, who was fired by Sheriff Michael S. Carona a year ago, would face up to nine years in prison on six felony counts of misappropriation of public funds and four misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charges. Erica Hill, his sister-in-law and a former CHG employee, could face up to three years on three counts of misappropriation of public funds for allegedly helping him stage the demonstrations. Each has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $25,000 bond.

Until Monday, Gabbard had maintained that he paid Jaramillo as a consultant. It is an account he repeated in at least four interviews with authorities.

Gabbard, who has advanced emphysema, was called to the witness stand for a conditional examination, in which a witness essentially provides death-bed testimony.

Gabbard was offered full immunity in exchange for his cooperation, though the defense plans to challenge it.

Wearing jeans and a white dress shirt, Gabbard was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, connected to a breathing tube.

Gabbard testified that he met Carona before he met Jaramillo. He said he was introduced to the sheriff by Newport Beach lobbyist Bob Levy, who was well-known at the time in law enforcement circles. Gabbard, who was seeking legislation that would require all patrol cars in the state to be equipped with his computer device, said he donated “a bucketful” of money to the sheriff’s campaign on the advice of Levy. Gabbard has acknowledged that some of those donations came from unwitting investors who thought they were buying stock in the company.

“He said if you don’t get the wheel greased, you don’t get nothing passed,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard said he did not meet Jaramillo until March 16, 2000, the day of the first demonstration allegedly staged with Sheriff’s Department resources. In the weeks afterward, Gabbard said, Jaramillo would show up at his Newport Beach home uninvited, suggesting ways for him to improve the company’s image and chances.

During one of those house calls, he said, Jaramillo suggested that Gabbard hire him as a consultant. But that was just a ruse, he testified.

On a Sunday in October 2000, Gabbard said, he and his girlfriend met Jaramillo and his wife for brunch at a restaurant, Mama Gina’s. Before the meal was over, a $10,000 CHG check was handed over to Jaramillo, he said. A copy of the check was enlarged and shown in court, with the word “VOID” written over it.

Asked to explain what happened, Gabbard said Jaramillo had followed him to the parking lot of the restaurant and asked him to write out a check to Lisa instead, “because he did not want a paper trail.”

“I knew what we were doing wasn’t kosher,” Gabbard said, moments later testifying that “it was basically a bribe.”

Asked why he never disclosed this to authorities, including the county grand jury and federal prosecutors last year, Gabbard said he “knew it was illegal” and that “I would rather make it look like I was a damn fool.”

He is scheduled to resume his testimony today.