Ex-Court Clerk Draws Fine, Jail in Removal of Drunk-Driving Files

A former clerk in Van Nuys Superior Court who admitted to removing court records of drunk-driving arrests was sentenced to a year in jail and fined $1,500 Friday.

In rejecting a probation officer’s recommendation for a lighter sentence, San Fernando Superior Court Judge Robert D. Fratianne said Beryl Rebecca Vinson, 25, of Granada Hills had violated a public trust.

Vinson’s estranged husband and the alleged mastermind of the operation, Richard Vinson, 25, of Granada Hills, failed to appear for his sentencing Friday.

His attorney, Dennis E. Mulcahy, said Vinson called from Phoenix Thursday to say he was snowed in.

Fratianne issued a bench warrant for Vinson’s arrest.

Fratianne also sentenced another accomplice, former bartender Bette Jo Bormann, 46, of Granada Hills, to 30 days in jail and fined her $1,000. Bormann, who pleaded no contest to a charge of destruction of court files, admitted receiving from $200 to $300 for referring customers to Richard Vinson to have their drunk-driving cases fixed.

Used Contacts in Bars

A probation report said that Richard Vinson used contacts in bars to find people facing drunk-driving charges. For fees as high as $1,800, he induced his wife to remove their files so that their cases would never come before the court, the report said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert R. Lapin said authorities believe that the Vinsons tampered with files in as many as 50 drunk-driving cases for up to 2 1/2 years, until February, 1986.

They were charged with conspiracy to destroy four drunk-driving files between Nov. 1, 1985, until Feb. 13, 1986. Beryl Vinson was also charged with theft or alteration of a public record by a custodian.

Both pleaded no contest in December to conspiracy, for which the maximum penalty is three years in prison.

A probation officer had recommended a sentence of 180 days for Beryl Vinson.

In his report, probation officer Cecil Wells said that Beryl Vinson attributed her problems to her “obsessive” attraction to her husband, whom he described as an “undependable, controlling, yet magnetic person.”

Other Statements Cited

The report included statements from a high school friend, a therapist, a fellow worker and six family members characterizing Beryl Vinson as an intelligent, trustworthy and kind person. Wells said Beryl Vinson, now the mother of a 2-year-old child, separated from her husband after her arrest and was actually happy that she had been caught because it allowed her to start a new life.

Fratianne placed Beryl Vinson and Bormann on three years’ supervised probation.

At the request of Beryl Vinson’s attorney, Joe Ingber, Fratianne stayed the imposition of sentence until March 27 to allow the attorney to prepare a recommendation for his client to serve her sentence in a work program outside jail.