Lawyer admits paying for clients

Prominent Orange County criminal-defense attorney Joseph G. Cavallo pleaded guilty Friday to three felonies stemming from a kickback scheme in which bail agents steered business his way.

Cavallo faces up to three years and eight months in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 14 on criminal counts of so-called attorney capping and paying bail bondsmen to refer clients to his law firm.

A somber Cavallo, once politically connected to county Sheriff Michael S. Carona and other law enforcement figures, had no comment after the court hearing before Superior Court Judge Carla M. Singer. His demeanor was in sharp contrast to the confident and aggressive courtroom behavior that often rankled judges and prosecutors.

His “yes” and “I understand” answers were barely audible when Singer and Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh read the charges and asked if he understood that prosecutors had not promised him special treatment in exchange for his guilty plea.

Afterward he referred reporters’ questions to his attorney, John D. Barnett. Asked why his client pleaded guilty, Barnett responded: “Because he is guilty. He made a mistake and owned up to it.”

Cavallo, 52, is prepared to accept whatever punishment the court gives him, Barnett said. Singer said she would rely on a Probation Department report about Cavallo’s crimes to decide how much time, if any, he should spend behind bars.

Barnett and Baytieh declined to comment when asked if Cavallo’s felony convictions would lead to his disbarment. Barnett said Cavallo had continued representing clients through Friday but declined to say if Cavallo would continue to practice after pleading guilty. He remained free on $25,000 bail.

The plea comes a week after two bail bondsmen were each sentenced to four months in jail and three years of probation for their roles in the crime.

Jorge Andres Castro, 31, of Aliso Viejo and Alejandro de Jesus Cruz, 35, of Miami pleaded guilty in February to two felonies.

Prosecutors said both men received payments from Cavallo for client referrals, but the only payment listed by the district attorney was a $50,000 transfer from Cavallo to Castro in 2004.

Castro and Cruz were owners of Xtreme Bail Bonds of Santa Ana. When they pleaded guilty, they admitted to referring inmates to Cavallo from Orange County Jail between June 2003 and August 2005. Authorities learned of the scheme when other bail companies complained of the practice.

Prosecutors said it is illegal for bail bond workers to recommend an attorney to their clients, even if no money changes hands. It is also illegal for attorneys to pay nonlawyers for client referrals, prosecutors said.

On Friday, Barnett defined “capping” as “paying for clients” and said, “Mr. Cavallo paid for clients.”

Cavallo’s guilty plea came almost two years to the day after his arrest. Barnett had charged that Cavallo’s indictment was politically motivated and accused Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas of engaging in vindictive prosecution.

At the time, the attorney said that Cavallo’s prosecution was payback for representing Gregory Haidl, the son of a former assistant sheriff, in a sexual assault case and then defending George Jaramillo, another assistant sheriff who was fired and charged with corruption.

But on Friday, Barnett said that the earlier charges of vindictive prosecution were “not applicable now.”

“My client’s plea shows that he was indicted for what he did,” Barnett said, and amounted to a surrender.

Baytieh said Cavallo’s guilty plea proved that the allegations of vindictive prosecution were baseless.

“Our position has been clear from day one. We had the evidence to prove [that Cavallo was guilty] beyond a reasonable doubt,” Baytieh said.

Cavallo gained attention for defending Haidl, son of former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl, in two sensational trials. Gregory Haidl and two of his friends were sentenced in 2006 to six years in prison for the videotaped sexual assault of a seemingly unconscious 16-year-old girl at Donald Haidl’s Corona del Mar home. The assault occurred in 2002, and the men were teenagers at the time.

The men were tried together, and their first trial ended in a hung jury. They were convicted in a second trial in 2005.

After representing Haidl, Cavallo defended Jaramillo, who pleaded no contest to lying to a grand jury and to unauthorized use of a county helicopter.

He was sentenced to a year in jail and is scheduled to be released next month. Cavallo was once a part of Carona’s inner circle.

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hgreza@latimes.com