Prosecutors ask to dismiss Costa Mesa spying case against P.I., who died in July

The Orange County district attorney’s office moved this week to dismiss its case against Scott Alan Impola — one of two private investigators accused of illegally tracking a Costa Mesa City Council member with a GPS device and making a fake DUI report against another in 2012 — following his death earlier this summer.

Impola, 49, of Canyon Lake, died on July 10 and the district attorney’s office learned of his death the following day, according to spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.

A motion to dismiss the case was filed Wednesday.

David Vaughn, Impola’s lawyer, said his client died of natural causes and that his memorial service — held July 28 at The Grove Community Church in Riverside — was attended by more than 200 mourners, including at least 100 members of law enforcement.

Impola was an officer and detective in the Riverside Police Department for 17 years, according to Vaughn, and earned a number of commendations for his work.

“He was constantly upbeat,” Vaughn said in a phone interview Friday. “He would be the most upbeat person I would speak to in a month. Just always a very positive guy.”

Impola and another private investigator — former Riverside police detective Christopher Joseph Lanzillo, 47, of Lake Arrowhead — faced charges of false imprisonment and conspiracy for their alleged activities during the highly contentious 2012 City Council election.

Authorities have said the two were working for the now-defunct law firm Lackie, Dammeier, McGill & Ethir, which at the time represented the Costa Mesa Police Assn.

Prosecutors alleged the two were trying to dig up dirt on Councilman Jim Righeimer and then-council members Steve Mensinger and Gary Monahan, who were feuding with the police union in the months leading up to the election.

On Aug. 22, 2012, prosecutors said Impola and a woman working with him were surveilling Monahan at his bar and restaurant in Costa Mesa.

Prosecutors alleged that Impola saw Righeimer — then the city’s mayor pro tem — at the restaurant and then contacted Lanzillo, who tailed the councilman when he drove away.

Lanzillo later called 911 to report that Righeimer was swerving in and out of lanes as he drove, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing.

After arriving at his Mesa Verde home, Righeimer took and passed a field sobriety test administered by a Costa Mesa police officer.

Impola and Lanzillo were also accused of using a GPS device to illegally track Mensinger.

Righeimer said he learned of Impola’s death “a day or two after it happened.”

“You don’t wish that on anybody,” he said Friday. “You pray for his family and his soul.”

Last September, Lanzillo pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to commit a crime of unlawful use of an electronic tracking device, one felony count of false imprisonment by deceit and one felony count of conspiracy to commit a crime of falsely reporting a crime to an agency, according to the district attorney’s office.

He was sentenced in March to 364 days in county jail and three years’ formal probation.

Impola had pleaded not guilty to all charges and was free on bond at the time of his death.

In an email, Vaughn wrote he is “confident that a jury would have acquitted Scott of being involved in Chris Lanzillo’s 911 call” and noted those charges were dismissed at a preliminary hearing.

“While the district attorney’s office persuaded a different judge to reinstate those charges, the dismissal of those charges by the judge who saw the witnesses in person makes clear the strength of Scott’s defense,” Vaughn wrote.

Righeimer, his wife, Lene, and Mensinger have filed a civil complaint in the matter against the union, the law firm and Lanzillo — though not Impola.

That action is in progress.

“We’re ready to get depositions and discovery and find out what happened,” Righeimer said.

Sy Everett, an attorney representing the Costa Mesa Police Assn. in the civil case, could not be reached for comment Friday but told the Daily Pilot in March that the association “did not direct, influence or have any association with Mr. Lanzillo or any private investigator related to this matter.”

“We will continue to cooperate and assist with any criminal investigation,” he said.

John Manly, the attorney representing Mensinger and the Righeimers in the civil suit, said he and his clients are committed to pursuing the matter to its conclusion.

“I don’t care if it takes 20 years, they’re going to answer the questions about what they knew and when they knew it,” he said Friday. “They’re going to do that because no one, regardless of their political persuasion, should have to fear being followed, wiretapped or arrested simply because of their political beliefs. That’s what this case is about.”

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney