Ex-Registrar Acquitted on Theft Charges

SAN DIEGO —  Former San Diego County Registrar of Voters Ray Ortiz was acquitted Thursday by a Superior Court jury here on 27 counts of grand theft, misappropriation of public funds and falsifying public records. The acquittal was a dramatic ending to what Ortiz called “a year of hell” that cost him more than $100,000 in legal fees and lost income.

A co-defendant, Escondido elections consultant Lance Gough, also was found innocent of a single theft charge.

Ortiz, who had been registrar for seven years until his resignation last fall, wept softly and hugged his wife, two sons and lawyer after the verdicts were announced.

“I’m just happy it’s over,” a red-eyed Ortiz said outside the courtroom. “I can’t hold any animosity for anybody. I just want to get my life started, my family back together and move forward.”

Ortiz, 52, was indicted last year on charges that he instructed a Los Angeles printing company executive to submit false bills to the county in order to conceal funds that prosecutors contended were used for trips and other personal purposes by Ortiz and his associates. Ortiz was charged with stealing $7,300 from the county in six transactions between 1984 and 1986, and an additional $4,000 from Jeffries Banknote Co., which printed election data for the county.

The defense acknowledged that Ortiz was reimbursed by Jeffries for some trips to election conferences, but argued that there was no attempt to conceal those funds and that Ortiz’s motivation was simply to save the county money.

In interviews, several jurors said they simply did not believe Lynn Kienle, Jeffries’ vice president for sales, who had testified under a grant of immunity.

“It was more or less who you chose to believe in the case,” jury foreman Cyntree Day said. “And we chose to believe Mr. Ortiz.”

Juror Theresa Armstrong added: “If anybody could believe that man (Kienle), then I guess they believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy.”

A third defendant in the case, Maria Caldera, a longtime friend of Ortiz, is to be tried later on three counts of grand theft.