Laguna Beach man faces forgery charges

Bryce Alderton

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Laguna Beach man charged with

18 felony counts of forging court documents during an embezzlement trial,

said officials from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

Jon E. Jenett, 50, is the former chief financial officer of the a

defunct Irvine electronics company.

Jennet was charged with five counts of perjury, six counts of

submitting false documents to a court and seven counts of attempted

perjury for lying during the deposition.

If convicted, the Laguna Beach man faces a maximum of 14 years and

four months in prison, district attorney’s officials said.

The now-defunct Mission Electronics in Irvine sold computer chips and

processors. The company began having financial problems in the summer of

1998, and owner Thomas Hopper decided to close down the company.

In the process of closing out the company, Hopper discovered that

Jenett had allegedly embezzled more than $2 million, officials said.

Hopper sued Jenett in 1998 and reported the alleged theft to Irvine

police, who served a search warrant on Jenett’s home on May 26, 1999,

seizing his computer.

Detectives from the Irvine Police Department and the District

Attorney’s High Tech Crime Unit found several documents on his computer

that were cut and pasted to show money transfers between Hopper and

Jenett.

As the civil lawsuit was moving toward trial, Hopper filed a motion to

attach Jenett’s assets. Jenett responded by submitting copies of the

altered documents and signing a declaration under penalty of perjury that

the documents were true and accurate copies of the originals, officials

said.

The following day, April 29, 1999, Jenett testified under oath that

the documents were true copies of memos and payroll documents that had

switched hands several times between himself and Hopper.

Participants in civil lawsuits are supposed to sign transcripts of

their depositions and submit them to the court. Jenett did not do this,

officials said.

Prosecutors told Hopper about the forgeries and Jenett agreed to

settle the lawsuit for $8 million, and move out of his home.