Condo Scammer’s Excuse Is Supported

Phil Benson got another reprieve Friday.

The mastermind who pleaded guilty to selling condominiums illegally in Huntington Beach was facing immediate arrest if he failed to produce evidence that he is near death and unable to be sentenced for his crimes.

But a doctor vouched for Benson, 73, saying in a declaration filed Friday in federal court -- but written earlier this month -- that his patient was undergoing radiation treatments and could get sicker from lung cancer if they weren’t finished.

“Interruption is not medically advisable and would cause progression of the disease,” the declaration said, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Tom McConville.

Benson failed to show up for sentencing Thursday at U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, and his attorney said he had no plans to appear because he is dying of cancer.

Judge David O. Carter ordered that Benson be arrested at his home in Hadley, Idaho, on Friday if Benson’s attorney failed to produce evidence of his medical condition.

After reviewing the doctor’s declaration, Carter set a hearing for Wednesday to give McConville time to speak to the doctor, who was away from work Friday.

McConville said his patience was waning. “Absent the doctor telling me that the travel itself will kill him, I anticipate us being able to set a sentencing date” on Wednesday, he said.

Benson pleaded guilty to 24 counts of federal mail and wire fraud in the real estate scheme, which involved selling apartments as condos by skirting city laws regulating the conversions.

He was indicted for selling more than 40 units for $11 million with seven others, including former Huntington Beach Mayor Pam Julien Houchen, who awaits sentencing. Federal probation officials have recommended a prison sentence for Benson of 70 to 108 months.

The conversions violated a 1984 city law requiring apartment owners to modify their properties and pay a $7,000 conversion fee before the units could be sold.