Edward L. Masry's FELONY CONVICTION
ResearcherGuy
Chief Financial Officer of
Wescott Christian Church
(CA Corp #C0454580, per its latest
"Statement of Officers" #04-707703
of 8-9-2004), and controls the assets
and monies donated in to the various
corporations of the "Gene Scott" TV
ministry.
In 1981, Attorney Edward L. Masry was
convicted by a jury in San Diego County,
of a felony offense for "grand theft."
A contemporary news account
and notes from the case file(s) follow.
Question: After reading these accounts,
do you feel the "real" Edward L. Masry,
(as opposed to his sympathetic portrayal
in the "Erin Brockovich" film) is fit to handle
anyone's money donated to "Pastor Scott,"
based on the types of religious groups he
represents, and his dishonest and greedy
behavior (as the Office of the Attorney General
described herein)?
News Account
Newspaper: Times-Advocate of Escondido
Date: Monday, September 14, 1981
Page: A-1
"Masry Says He'll Appeal Jury Verdict"
by Chuck Wraight, T-A Staff Writer
Escondido - Attorney Edward L. Masry plans to
appeal his conviction on a charge of obtaining
money under false pretenses while representing
the Morningland religious cult that once
operated here.
A Vista Superior Court Jury found him guilty
of that charge late Friday afternoon (9/11/1981)
in the four-week trial, rejecting another charge
of solicitation of money in an alledged attempt
to bribe then-state Attorney General Mervyn
Dymally.
Masry, 49, was accused of accepting $10,000.
from Morningland for the purpose of
persuading Dymally, now a congressman
from the Los Angeles area, to form a rigged
subcommittee to prevent harassment of
religious groups.
The Los Angeles attorney said he will file
a motion for a new trial at his scheduled
sentencing October 8. Masry could be
sentenced to up to three years.
"Frankly, I was astonished the jury could
find me guilty of that count," said Masry
in a telephone interview this morning from
his Sherman Oaks office. "We only expected
a possible problem on the first (solicitation
of a bribe) count. We thought there was
nothing to the third count."
Judge F.V. Lopardo threw out a second count
against Masry shortly after the month-long trial
began. The so-called "Hong Kong Count"
stemmed from a trip Masry made to Hong Kong
using $10,000 in tax-exempt church funds from
Morningland for non-religious purposes.
He made the trip to help rescue two childred
said to have been kidnapped from a Morningland
member by the children's natural father. Leopardo
ruled no crime had been committed.
"I don't believe the jury ever forgot the testimony
regarding an alleged crime that the judge ruled
was never committed," commented Masry.
"But the jury already had heard all the testimony
on that count."
The lawyer claims he still has strong support from
the churches he represents. "They (other churches)
'voted yesterday -- unanimously -- to retain me.
I don't think there was one negative vote."
He added, "It is an undisputed fact that the church
(Morningland) never lost a dime."
Deputy Attorney General John Gordnier, who
prosecuted the case, was reached at his Sacramento
office following the outcome of the trial. "We are
pleased with the verdict. We thought it was the
proper verdict, based on the evidence presented
during the case. Once you break down the leagalese,
it was a case of him either being guilty of one crime
or the other."
Masry's defense attorney Alan A. Sigel was
also shaken by the verdict. "We believe the
verdict was inconsistent with the law and the
facts of the case. It was totally unexpected and
has sent a shock through the legal profession.
The prosecution completely failed to prove any
crime had been committed."
Sigel said that if the motion for a new trial is
granted, the attorney would then file a motion
for dismissal of the trila on the grounds that there
was a lack of evidence to support the verdict.
"We are optimistic that the judge will at least
grant a new trial," he commented.
"It was the instance of an attorney being charged
with corruption. There was a bias or prejudice we
couldn't overcome. There is a question of a lawyer
charged with this kind of crime can get a fair trial,"
said Sigel.
Morningland retained Masry as its lawyer in 1978
to lead a fight against alleged harassment of the
cult by the City of Escondido and the Escondido
Police Department. The group filed a suit against
the city that year on Masry's advice.
Morningland shut down its Escondido temple,
located at 440 N. Rose Street, in September 1978
after members of the group left to start their own
cult in Arizona. The religious group, which still
maintains a Long Beach temple, had come under
attack on charges that it brainwashed its members
and caused some to leave their families.
Before the Escondido temple was shut down,
Masry invited Morningland members to two
functions involving Dymally. Former cult members
testified during the trial that Masry suggested
Dymally "could be bought" and the state official
could help form a subcommittee that could assist
religious groups such as Morningland.
According to witnesses, Masry received a $10,000
check for that purpose. The defendant testified that
the check was written for legal fees and to help
establish an Escondido law office.
The $10,000 check written to Masry was obtained
in a raid on the attorney's Los Angeles area office
by Attorney General investigators and became
one of the key pieces of evidence in the
prosecution's case against Masry.
Sri Patricia Sperato, self-proclaimed saint and
leader of Morningland, was also charged in the
case. Charges against her were dropped last year
and then reinstated by a state appellate court
decision. Further appeals have been delayed.
Dymally was found innocent of the alleged
bribery scheme in 1979 by the San Diego
Grand Jury.
Masry's trial began in Vista Superior Court
(North San Diego County) August 18, 16 months
after his indictment. (of 3/28/1980). The actual trial
followed a 33-day preliminary hearing in Vista
Municipal Court last year and a six-day pre-trial
hearing.
Note 1: Case number of this was #CRN 6226
in San Diego County. A separate report in the
file, documented the testimony of Morningland
members Steve and Craig Bingham to an Escondido
Police Detective regarding the activities of the
"Inner Sanctum" of the Morningland "cult"
group. In this itemized report, the Binghams stated;
--"They were very dissatisfied with Morningland
and felt they had been under a hypnotic spell or
brainwashed.
--They admitted they had been the drug contacts
in Escondido between the Church and the dealers,
including LSD and other drugs. They refused,
however, to name their drug contact in Escondido.
Both expressed fear for prosecution for these
activities, which they described as "continual."
--They also expressed personal concern for sexual
activities that had occurred at Morningland.
--They also expressed fear of prosecution for their
roles in "encounter sessions" at the Church,
in which they had used force on other members.
--They also feared criminal, civil, and personal
violence retaliation against themselves based on
an alleged extortion of the Church by themselves.
--They were also afraid they'd be personally
threatened with violence by the Church in that
they themselves previously did such things on
behalf of the Church to dissenting members.
--Both indicated that they were involved in a bribe
of the Lt. Governor and were afraid of prosecution
for that as well."
Note 2: Following the vacation of the original
verdict (variously described as based on a charge
by Masry of juror misconduct, or on the basis of
denial of a speedy trial, per CA Penal Code
section 1382). A new trial was ordered on
October 26, 1981, and substantial delays in the
forms of legal filings at an Appellate court and
a ruling by the California Supreme Court on
6/14/1984, along with claims by Masry of medical
inability to attend court, delayed later preliminary
hearings until November 1986 and the second
trial until the Summer of 1987.
Note 3: A Declaration by Dr. Abdul R. Abukurah
of Glendale, CA regarding Masry's medical
condition, stated on May 16, 1987, that:
Edward L. Masry "suffers from diabetes mellitus,
hypertension, arteriorsclerotic heart disease with
narrowing of the coronary arteries requiring
dilation by angioplasty two years ago. Mr Masry
suffers of a nonfunctioning left kidney...As a
matter of fact all these medical problems have
been complicated recently by the discovery of
an invagination of his first cervical spint into his
cranium which has given him some symptoms
of shoulder pain, severe headaches and at times
dizziness...the patient was advised to consult
with neurosurgeons at the Mayo Clinic...because
any pressure from this cervical spine on the
brain stem could induce cardiac and respiratory
standstill..."
An attached report in the case file, dated
3 November 1986, stated of Edward Masry
"...Over the past year he has noted a marked
falling off in his ability to engage in sexual
relations, with marked difficulty in maintaining
erections recently...He has constant urinary
tract infections requiring intermittent use of
Ampicillin.."
(Question: Would this partly explain Masry's
focus on being surrounded by attractive women,
and claims of repeated attempts by Masry for
in-office romances, as alleged in the Kissandra
Cohen sexual harassment civil suit filing of 2000?)
Note 4: In a "Statement of the Facts" by the
Prosecution for the retrial (Case #CRN 11732
of San Diego County), the history of the
allegations were recounted by the California
Attorney General's Office as follows:
"During late March, early April of 1978, the
City Council of the City of Escondido,
called for an investigation of Morningland,
a religious cult alleged to have engaged in
various improper activities. A leadership
group within the cult decided to seek legal
advice and requested that Sodero Arcia,
then a member of the organization, arrange
a meeting with an attorney he knew.
Thereafter, Arcia, Patricia Sperato
(leader of Morningland, following the death
of Daniel "Donato" Sperato, who was said
to be circling the Earth in a flying saucer),
Steve Tamietti and Barbara Dickerson
(later Tamietti) went to Los Angeles with
Mr. Thabet. At this meeting, Thabet
introduced the group to Mr. Masry, the
defendant in this case, with the
recommendation that he, Masry, handle
the case. After some discussion, the
figure of $25,000 was tentatively agreed
upon as what would be required to be
paid for Masry's retainer. Thereafter,
the Board of Trustees approved the
payment of this amount to Masry as a
retainer.
Masry was very excited about the size
of this retainer and about the potential
value of Morningland to the law firm.
Masry told Andrew Zanger, an attorney
and employee of the firm, that he, Zanger,
would be the primary counsel responsible
for the client Morningland and that he,
Masry, would act as counsel for the client
in litigation matters. Masry directed Zanger
to bill his, Zanger's, time at the rate of $125
an hour to Morningland. Zanger was very
urprised by this direction because his
previous hourly billing rate to other clients
had been $60 or $75, (and) Masry was the
attorney whose time had been billed at $125.
Masry further instructed Zanger to keep the
billings and collections from Morningland
separate from the normal billings because he
didn't want Thabet to know what was billed
and received.
In late April 1978, Masry went to the Escondido
Morningland location and met with Patricial
Sperato, Sodero Arcia, Steven Tamietti and
Barbara Dickerson in private. In this meeting,
Masry told the persons attending that if they
would pay him $10,000 he would wash the
money through his trust account and pay the
amount to then Lieutenant Governor Dymally.
Dymally, according to Masry, would use the
$10,000 to cause a legislative sub-committee
to investigate the issue of harassment of
Morningland by the City of Escondido.
The representation was that the sub-committee's
investigation would be that the city had acted
improperly and harassed Morningland. It was
understood that this $10,00 was a separate
payment which had no relation to the retainer
for legal services or the fees paid; although,
at a later time, Masry did wish to try to put
together a story for the grand jury that the
$10,000 was an additional retainer.
Patricia Sperato agreed to use this approach.
The $10,000 was obtained and put into an
account beyond the control of the Board of
Trustees. On or about May 22, 1978,
Patricia Sperato told Steve Tamietti to write
a check for $10,000 to Masry for purposes of
"washing" it through his trust account and
creating the sub-committee. Tamietti wrote
the check and mailed it to Masry who
received it and put it in a trust account.
The Board of Trustees was never given an
opportunity to consider the expenditure
and never informed that it had been made.
During July 1978, Steve Tamietti attended
a meeting at Masry's home which Dymally
also attended. At this meeting there was
discussion about the possibility of a
sub-committee, but no mention of the $10,000
or any indication of an intention to bribe
Dymally. After this meeting at Masry's home,
Tamietti was told by Masry that he, Masry,
had taken care of the matter; however
Masry said that only $5,000 was passed
because of the need to keep $5000 for taxes
since it would show as income to him.
This statement was made even though
Zanger, who was doing all billing, was not
then aware of the payment and had never
shown it on any billing then made. Masry,
who reviewed the billings with him never
told him about the payment during this time.
At a later time, before law enforcement
executed a search warrant in connection
with the $10,000 payment to Masry,
Masry told Zanger several times that no
bribe deal had ever occurred.
No sub-committee was organized."
Note 5: At the 1987 retrial, the jury
deadlocked 7 to 5 in deliberations by
July 20th, and California Senior Assistant
Attorney General John Gordiner (under
John Van de Kamp) motioned to dismiss
the charges against Edward L. Masry
on July 27, 1987.
The preceding information is presented
as a public service, under "fair use" and
related statutes.
Elder_Porn_Poon
damnthetorpedos
"an invagination of his first cervical spint into his cranium which has
given him some symptoms of shoulder pain, severe headaches and at times
dizziness...the patient was advised to consult with neurosurgeons at the
Mayo Clinic...because any pressure from this cervical spine on the brain
stem could induce cardiac and respiratory standstill..."
An attached report in the case file, dated
3 November 1986, stated of Edward Masry
"...Over the past year he has noted a marked
falling off in his ability to engage in sexual
relations, with marked difficulty in maintaining
erections recently...He has constant urinary
tract infections requiring intermittent use of
Ampicillin.."
damnthetorpedos,
>an invagination of his first cervical spint into his cranium --- whatever
a "spint" is,
Ed must have been pithed.
>the defense rested on these problems causing
him to pad his bill and bribe officials. Scum.
> bottom line RG, that the charges were
eventually dropped is that the case?
H8N S8N
attending (1980 ?), Doc was always talking about
Mervyn Dymally House Rez 205. I do not have a
guess what it was about. As I remember, it seemed
Doc had this guy in his back pocket. With stuff
you have posted here really makes me think. There is a
movie here waiting to explode. I have a cousin who is
a manager at wma.com. He has his own production co.
and is always looking for a good Indie/Bio.
H8N S8N
gondar
deadlocked 7 to 5 in deliberations by
July 20th, and California Senior Assistant
Attorney General John Gordiner (under
John Van de Kamp) motioned to dismiss
the charges against Edward L. Masry
on July 27, 1987.
So the final result is that the charges were dismissed.
If the SAG thought that he really had a case then he would have went
forward.
Typical
-g