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High-profile defense lawyer   Cavallo is indicted

by Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter

  (C) 2005

JUSTICE DEPT. FBI AND FEDERAL GRAND JURY MAY BE INVESTIGATING THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT AND OTHER COUNTY OFFICIALS 

 

 

           

Photo's are lt. to rt. Attorney Joseph G. Cavallo, Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, Sheriff Michael S. Carona and former assistant sheriff,  George Jaramillo

 

Attorney Joseph G. Cavallo was indicted along with George Castro and Alejandro de Jesus Cruz of Xtreme Bail Bonds in Santa Ana, by the Orange County grand jury on allegations of conspiracy and business code violations. The felony indictment is alleging that he and two bail bonds employees conspired to steer jail inmates and others to his law firm. According to a copy of the indictment obtained by the Journal, Cavallo is named in three of the counts while George Andres Castro and Alejandro de Jesus Cruz, both of Xtreme Bail Bonds were named in all five. They were also accused of using unlicensed bail agents and unlawfully soliciting clients at Orange County Jail.


Cavallo was released on $25,000 cash bail, but Castro remains in custody. Cruz is still at large and being sought by the Orange County Sheriff's Dept. and has not yet been located.

In an exclusive to the Journal we have learned that the Orange County Sheriff's Dept. may also be under investigation. Allegedly Sheriff's deputies have illegally referred inmate defendants that are in the Orange County Jail to local bail bondsmen and attorneys in a conspiracy involving female and other jail trustees. Thousands of dollars in kickback payoffs are believed part of the conspiracy.  According to federal officials, the investigation began in 2004 when a local long time bail bondsman complained that Xtreme Bail Bonds and other bail companies and the Sheriff’s Dept. were illegally referring clients and customers to local attorneys and other bail bondsmen. 

There are also separate allegations of illegal conduct by elected officials under color of law, illegal use of office under color of law, misuse of authority, corruption, obstruction of Justus, jailhouse bribery, perjury, kickbacks, illegal campaign contributions, the selling of reserve sheriff badges, the thwarting of accurate public disclosure, indecent sexual activities, sexual favors, police brutality and the illegal use of government property, including a police helicopter for personal use The Journal has been told by reliable sources that the FBI is investigating the matter because it may involve highly placed elected officials. The same source believes the U.S. Attorneys office is forming or has formed a special task force to investigate and develop federal cases against some county officials and it may in the future also involve a secret federal grand jury. 

When the Journal called the Santa Ana FBI office for confirmation of a ongoing investigation we were referred to the Los Angeles office of the FBI. FBI Agent Dan ( would not give his last name) said, he is the complaint duty agent and he had not heard about that investigation and ask that we call Tuesday the same number and ask for the press dept. The Journal also attempted to contact Sheriff Mike Carona but was only able to reach watch commander Lt. Strand who also claimed he had not heard of those details of the investigation" but I did read something in the paper over the weekend, but you should check with the press people Tuesday as today is a holiday some people may not be in."

The Journal has previously reported attorney Cavallo, defended Gregory Haidl against sexual assault charges during two headline-making trials. Gregory Haidl's Father assistant sheriff Donald Haidl was in charge of the troubled orange county sheriff's reserve program and is only one of several controversies dogging the sheriff as he makes a bid for a third four-year term. The assistant sheriff in charge of the reserve program, Donald Haidl, resigned in September 2004 to focus on his son's gang-rape trial.

Last month, two women — both related to one of the former assistant sheriffs — accused Carona of sexual harassment. In addition, one of his reserve officers is facing felony charges for allegedly pulling his service revolver on a group of golfers he thought were playing too slowly.


GUILTY!
Jury finds Haidl Three guilty

Cavallo, who also represents fired Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo, who was indicted after a week of secret testimony, said John Barnett, Cavallo's attorney.

Cavallo has denied to the Journal any wrongdoing Cavallo said he intends to file a complaint with the state attorney general's office over details of the sealed indictment being leaked to a local television station

The Journal has reported that Barnett, who was one of Cavallo's co-counsels in the sexual-assault case, said, he would not provide details on the indictment. However, he said, Cavallo is being punished by the District Attorney's Office for his aggressive courtroom tactics on behalf of his high-profile clients.

"The timing is not coincidental," Barnett said. "Fresh on the heels of his vigorous defense of Greg Haidl and of George Jaramillo, which includes nonstop attacks on the District Attorney's Office and the sheriff's departments he gets indicted.

"That's no accident and that's no coincidence," said Barnett. "I think it is to show every defense attorney in Orange County that there is a price to be paid for vigorous, unrelenting advocacy."

"Cavallo is not guilty. He committed no crimes whatsoever. He's going to be vindicated," said Barnett after a brief hearing, before Judge Dan Didier during which arraignment was continued until Nov. 4.

The indictment, which was unsealed Friday, is the latest in a series of legal developments among some of Orange County's most powerful and politically connected, including Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Michael S. Carona.

Barnett said, he found it curious that his client was indicted after representing Gregory Haidl, the son of a former assistant sheriff, and then defending George Jaramillo, another assistant sheriff who was fired and has been charged with bribery. After the Orange County Grand Jury ended weeks of speculation about the fate of George Jaramillo by announcing his indictment on multiple bribery counts, the ex-assistant sheriff fired back with a charge of his own.


"I have never been offered or taken a bribe, which is more than I can say about Tony Rackauckas, and he knows what I mean," Jaramillo said, of the Orange County district attorney. Jaramillo further stated that his case was assigned to Judge William Froeberg, the husband of a high-ranking deputy district attorney. The former No. 2 man at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department refused to elaborate. Its now believed that he has filed official complaints to the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI, along with a long time local Santa Ana Bail Bondsman and perhaps others.

When contacted the Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas denied that the prosecution was politically motivated.

"We're not in the business of prosecuting people because we don't like them," he said. "People get indicted because of their conduct, not because of name-calling."

Furthermore Deputy District Attorney Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the D.A.'s office, also rejected Barnett's claim and said, "Criminal defense attorneys in Orange County vigorously defend their clients every day, and it would be highly unusual for any of them to be indicted for a crime," Schroeder said, "And if they are indicted, it would be based solely on the evidence and for what they did."

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer likely fired the first shot in the 2006 race for district attorney when he said there’s a growing perception that incumbent Tony Rackauckas has "poisoned" trust in local law enforcement.

"The people of this county want and deserve a DA who is fair, just and above reproach," said Spitzer (R-Brea). "The average person in Orange County doesn’t think the DA’s office is fair anymore. We know that the DA has intervened on behalf of his friends, fouled up cases and there’s been an ongoing issue of retaliation against deputies who haven’t politically supported Tony Rackauckas."

The DA’s office issued a statement saying that Spitzer “does not know the facts” of the cases he cited and “is not in a position to judge what happened.” But the assemblyman says it’s Rackauckas who is clueless—especially in the Haidl case, which gained national attention

George Castro, 29, the operator of Xtreme Bail Bonds of Santa Ana, was also named in the indictment. Peter Scalisi, Castro's attorney said " no money changed hands" and that his client, Castro, and Cavallo were "friends" and " and 'business associates."" they happen to know each other and thats about it."

Barnett was firm that, Cavallo was not guilty, that, in fact ' he didn't do any business with this (bail Bond) company at all."

Cavallo was the lead attorney who defended Haidl and two other teenagers on charges that they sexually assaulted a drunken 16-year-old girl on a pool table in the garage of a Corona del Mar home owned by former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl in July 2002.

The three defendants, now all age 20, were convicted in June after a second trial of several counts of sexual assault. The first trial ended with a hung jury.

Cavallo, whose office is in Irvine, accused Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas during the Haidl trials of over-zealously prosecuting Gregory Haidl to show that he was tough on crime. He is also the defense attorney for Jaramillo, who was accused by the grand jury in July of bribery and conspiracy involving a Newport Beach businessman Joseph William Balicki, who claimed to have invented a device that could stop a fleeing car in a police pursuit.

And last month, Cavallo filed a $15 million claim against Orange County claiming that  Sheriff Mike Carona conspired to intimidate him into dropping Jaramillo as a client.

Orange County is undoubtedly mired in a dizzying spat of law enforcement scandals. In addition to pending felony corruption charges against ex-Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo, .

Ebrahim Baytieh and Brian Gurwitz both from the Orange County District Attorneys Office will be charged with prosecuting the case.

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