OXNARD : Judge Removes Self From Criminal Trial

A Ventura County Superior Court judge on Monday removed himself from the criminal trial of two men accused in a $1.4-million credit card scam because he once belonged to the same tennis club as one of the defendants.

Judge Lawrence Storch also cited an upcoming death penalty case over which he must preside in assigning the case against John J. Haggerty, 46, and Wayne N. Fleischer, 48, to Judge Allan L. Steele.

Storch said he did not know Haggerty, but may have had some casual contact with him at an unspecified tennis club earlier this year.

Haggerty and Fleischer, former partners in an Oxnard financial planning business, face eight counts each of grand theft and tax evasion for allegedly falsifying American Express credit card applications for their clients and borrowing large amounts of money.

Fleischer, who is represented by Ventura attorney Richard W. Hanawalt, made bail earlier this month. Haggerty, who remains in Ventura County Jail on $100,000 bail, is representing himself on the case.

Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. last week disqualified himself from the case after a request by Haggerty. Storch is beginning a lengthy death penalty case later this year that is expected to run several months.

Steele on Monday rescheduled arraignments for Haggerty and Fleischer for Aug. 3.