Attorney indicted in alleged money scam
Defense team moves to have securities fraud case dismissed
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

A Ventura County Superior Court judge recently made public a 13-count indictment filed by the Ventura County grand jury against Camarillo attorney Robert Caron for an alleged investment scheme that conned more than a dozen investors out of $1.2 million.

The grand jury indictment- filed Oct. 3 and unsealed Oct. 25- charged Caron, 50, with 13 counts of felony securities fraud.

The indictment comes one year after Caron was arrested at his Camarillo home by investigators with the Ventura County district attorney's office on 12 counts of securities fraud stemming from what prosecutors describe as an elaborate investment scam that lasted from 1999 to 2001.

Caron faces the same charges in both the district attorney's investigation and the grand jury indictment.

According to court records, more than a dozen investors from seven different states gave Caron more than $2 million in investments for a number of companies, including California strawberry farms, but alleged that they only received $843,000 in return.

Attorneys for Caron argue that the case should be dismissed because the district attorney's office missed the fouryear statute of limitations in bringing charges against Caron.

Louis Samonsky, Caron's attorney, said in court records that documents show prosecutors began investigating the personal injury attorney and sports agent in 2000.

State law says prosecutors have four years to file securities fraud charges from the time the crime is committed or when investigators learn of the wrongdoing.

The district attorney's office contends the investigation into Caron didn't begin until November 2003.

"This claimed discovery date is false," Samonsky wrote in a motion filed in mid-October.

Samonsky said in order to prove the investigation did begin in 2000 more than 10 members of the district attorneys office, including a retired deputy district attorney, would need to testify.

Samonsky contends their cross-examination testimony would create a conflict of interest for the district attorney's office. He said it would be another reason for the judge to dismiss the case.

Wendy Cole Lascher, who also represents Caron, said the evidence the defense team gave "overwhelmingly" proves the investigation began three years before prosecutors claim it did.

The defense team said documents show the investigation against Caron began in 2000 in connection with the muchpublicized case that ended in the arrests of Dennis and Brenda Willingham, former Oxnard residents. Both were convicted of securities fraud charges. Brenda Willingham was also convicted of grand theft.

The couple reportedly swindled $8 million from investors in a similar scheme involving illegal investments in strawberry farms throughout the Central Coast. Both are serving sentences in state prison.

Prosecutors objected to both motions during the Oct. 25 hearing when the indictment was made public.

Officials with the district attorney's office said they will present their arguments in a rebuttal to the motions when the case is brought back into court Dec. 13.

A judge will hear both motions from defense attorneys at the December court date. The judge will also decide whether Caron will be arraigned on charges filed by the district's attorney office or the grand jury indictment.

A grand jury indictment supersedes the district attorney's complaint, which will be formally dropped if the judge decides to move forward with the indictment.

Lascher said if Caron faces charges based on the grand jury indictment, the defense team will file motions arguing the statute of limitations has expired and a trial would create a conflict interest for prosecutors asked to testify.