News
Government
Feb. 19, 2002
Ex-DA Gets Suspended Sentence
SAN DIEGO - A former prosecutor who played golf on county time and used office secretaries for personal business has been sentenced to a suspended 16-month prison term and probation, ending a case that a judge said highlights continuing turmoil within the district attorney's office.
"I am fully cognizant of what's been going on in this courthouse and this county for the last three years," Superior Court Judge Kenneth K. So said during Friday's sentencing hearing for Peter J. Longanbach, ex-chief of the district attorney's economic fraud division.
The judge's comments come during the homestretch of a heated district attorney's race in which integrity has been a key issue. Opponents of incumbent District Attorney Paul Pfingst point to the Longanbach case as a blatant betrayal of public trust; Pfingst, they contend, not only didn't fire Longanbach after his crimes were revealed - the district attorney promoted him.
So rejected defense requests to reduce Longanbach's felony grand theft conviction to a misdemeanor.
However, the judge said he would consider reducing the charge next Nov. 9, on the anniversary of Longanbach's guilty plea, if he fulfills the terms of his probation. Those terms include teaching golf to underprivileged children, helping a North County hospital organize a golf tournament and paying fines and restitution totaling nearly $26,000. So placed Longanbach on three years' probation. People v. Longanbach, CD163137 (San Diego Super. Ct., filed Nov. 9, 2001).
Allegations about Longanbach became public in 1999, although a secretary two years earlier had told her supervisors of the prosecutor's actions, drawing no response from administrators, according to court records.
In 1998, secretaries went to their supervisors a second time, armed with documents and computer disks to prove their accusations against Longanbach. Pfingst reviewed the matter, and Assistant District Attorney Gregory Thompson counseled Longanbach, but Pfingst gave Longanbach a promotion four months later, according to grand jury transcripts.
Pfingst has said recently that he feels betrayed by Longanbach and that Thompson had failed to keep him informed about the situation.
Longanbach retired after an unprecedented raid by state justice department agents on the district attorney's offices on Feb. 8, 2000.
After Longanbach's guilty plea and the state attorney general's agreement to dismiss the original 12-count indictment against him, the State Bar last month placed him on interim suspension. Because the grand theft charge is a felony, he can be summarily disbarred, but his lawyer, E. Patrick Swan, said he will seek a hearing.
Swan, of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, argued that the grand theft charge should be reduced because Longanbach's bar suspension was punishment enough. Swan also said that allegations against Longanbach were "promoted by the press" and that Longanbach's reforms in the fraud unit "created enemies there who reported what he was doing."
Deputy Attorney General Adrianne Denault, who led the 18-month investigation that led to Longanbach's indictment, scoffed at claims that Longanbach was a victim.
Longanbach betrayed "the power, authority and trust" of his position, whose duties were to prosecute people accused of doing exactly what Longanbach was doing, she said.
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Claude Walbert
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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