Fees Weren’t Bribes, Witness Says

Contradicting earlier testimony that he bribed an Orange County assistant sheriff, a Newport Beach businessman testified Monday that he actually paid the official as a consultant while his company sought to win the department’s support for a computer chip designed to stop fleeing cars.

Charles H. Gabbard acknowledged during cross-examination that his company turned to George Jaramillo, who has since been fired as assistant sheriff, for help in improving the company’s operations and image, going so far as to describe him as “the knight in shining armor” the company was looking for.

The about-face came exactly a week after Gabbard surprised the courtroom by saying he paid Jaramillo $25,000 in bribes and camouflaged the money as “consulting fees” on company checks written out to Jaramillo and his wife, Lisa. The latest testimony is consistent with Gabbard’s original account, one he has repeated several times in interviews with authorities.

Jaramillo is accused of misusing deputies and county equipment to help stage demonstrations from 2000 to 2002 to showcase the device that Gabbard’s company, CHG Safety Technologies, had developed to disable cars during high-speed chases. Erica Hill, Jaramillo’s sister-in-law and a former CHG employee, is accused of helping arrange the demonstrations. Each has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $25,000 bond.

Gabbard, who has advanced emphysema, took the witness stand for a fifth day in a special hearing that allows him to testify because prosecutors fear he will die before taking the witness stand in a trial.

Gabbard testified that he had contact with Sheriff Michael S. Carona, by mail, in person and over the phone, more than a year after he held two fundraisers for Carona in spring 2000. The sheriff has said he had nothing to do with Gabbard or CHG after those events.

In another twist to the case, prosecutors and defense attorneys wrestled over who leaked inflammatory information to reporters about an alleged sexual relationship between Jaramillo and his sister-in-law.

Orange County Superior Court Judge John D. Conley had barred the release of such material and tentatively ruled Monday that the district attorney’s office was the likely source of a story that appeared last week in the Orange County Register.

Conley said he would hold an evidentiary hearing later and ordered Deputy Dist. Atty. James Laird, the lead prosecutor, investigator Dina Mauger and D.A. spokeswoman Susan Schroeder to file declaratory statements with the court.