Ex-Husband Held in Attack on John Wayne’s Daughter

A Pomona doctor suspected of ordering an attack on his former wife, the daughter of actor John Wayne, was in Newport Beach City Jail on Wednesday, arrested hurriedly after police became fearful that he would flee the country.

Police said the orthopedic surgeon, Thomas A. Gionis, had been making telephone calls to Greece, had obtained a passport for himself in January and last month obtained a passport for his 2-year-old daughter, Anastasia.

“We feared he would flee the country and take the child with him,” said Sgt. Mike Jackson, one of the investigators assigned to the case, explaining the reason for the Tuesday night arrest.

Gionis, 35, who owns five clinics in Southern California, was involved in an unusually bitter child custody battle with Aissa Wayne, 32, when the attack occurred in October.

According to police, two men approached Wayne and her companion, financier Roger Luby, in the garage of Luby’s Newport Beach home, beat them and slashed one of Luby’s Achilles tendons.

One of the attackers told Wayne: “You’re (messing) with the wrong guy. Next time, we kill you,” police said.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of being the attackers. Police identified them as Jerrel L. Hintergardt, 37, an unemployed apartment manager from Burbank, and Jeffrey Kendall Bouey, 35, a swimming pool cleaner from Simi Valley.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Century City private investigator, O. Daniel Gal, who worked on behalf of Gionis in the custody case and who police say hired Hintergardt to make the attack. Hintergardt once worked for Gal’s agency, police said.

Gal, who was interviewed by Newport Beach police after the attack, is believed to have fled to Europe. Newport police say Interpol is trying to find Gal for arrest and extradition.

Gionis was awarded custody of the couple’s child, Anastasia, after a hearing in which his lawyers argued that the attack on Wayne showed the child would be endangered in Wayne’s custody. The judge criticized Wayne as being “emotionally immature.”

Wayne said Wednesday, however, that in the light of Gionis’ arrest, she would confer with her lawyers about reopening the custody case. The child is presently in the care of Gionis’ parents, who live in the San Diego area.

Three Newport Beach officers watched Gionis’ home in Pomona Tuesday night and arrested him when he drove up in his chauffeured limousine, police said. Gionis was returning from a business trip to New York, they said.

He was taken to Newport Beach City Jail, where he was held without bail on suspicion of conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, pending a bail hearing scheduled for today.

Police said records of Gionis’ telephone calls show that he called Gal four times from his limousine and his office on the day of the attack. The calls were made before and after the attack, and one was made to Gal’s car at the time police believe Gal was parked outside Luby’s home.

Gionis’ bank records showed he had paid a total of $65,000 to Gal during the custody dispute, $40,000 of which was paid two weeks before the attack, police said.

The attorney representing Gionis in the criminal case, Byron K. McMillan, said he had offered to have Gionis surrender whenever police wanted him. He said he was outraged by Tuesday’s arrest by police. “They’re cowboys, just cowboys,” McMillan said.

He insisted that Gionis is the victim of Gal, who was employed by Gionis’ attorney in the custody battle, not by Gionis. He said Gal tried to “shake down” Gionis for money before he fled to Europe.

Wayne said Wednesday that she was “shocked” by the arrest. “After everything Tom Gionis and I have gone through, I’m still shocked to think he could do that to me,” she said.

“My problem is my concern for Anastasia, my child. This is going to hurt her worse than anybody else. She’s 2 years old. She doesn’t understand now, but later on in life, it’s going to be pretty tough on her.”

Luby said he was “pleased” and that his injuries are “98% healed.” He said that if Gionis ordered the attack on him as well as on Wayne, it was probably motivated by jealousy.

Times staff writer Lonn Johnston contributed to this article.