Ex-councilman pleads guilty

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer | Saturday, September 22, 2007 3:22 AM PDT ∞

RIVERSIDE -- Former Murrieta City Councilman Jack van Haaster pleaded guilty Friday to two criminal counts stemming from actions he took while on the council.

Van Haaster, 50, carefully and politely answered a series of questions from Superior Court Judge Janice McIntyre in a downtown Riverside courtroom packed with lawyers and inmates waiting for their cases.

He pleaded guilty to one felony count of filing a false document and to a misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charge.

"Are you pleading guilty to these charges because you committed these offenses?" McIntyre asked. Van Haaster answered that he was and then received his sentence from the judge.

In an agreement with prosecutors, in exchange for the pleas, van Haaster was placed on probation for three years, must complete 500 hours of community service and pay $9,000 in restitution. He also must serve 30 days in custody on weekends beginning Oct. 4.

However, outside the courtroom, van Haaster's attorney said his client's sentence does not involve any actual jail time.

"This will be electronic monitoring for 29 straight days. He will be able to go from home to work and back, that's about it," defense attorney Steve Harmon said. Van Haaster is being given credit for one day in jail, which he served after his arrest Aug. 15, 2006.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Cabral said Friday afternoon that he was unaware of the electronic monitoring agreement, but added that it is possible Harmon already has arranged that with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, which oversees custody.

Ten felonies charged

Van Haaster was originally charged with 10 felonies, five each for perjury and filing a false document, as well as five misdemeanors alleging conflict of interest. The perjury counts pertained to his signing of financial disclosure forms as required for elected officials. The other five felonies allege he filed them with the city clerk's office and California Fair Political Practices Commission while knowing they were false.

He faced a sentence of up to eight years in state prison had he been convicted of all charges. But neither his attorney nor the prosecutor saw that actually happening.

Cabral said it was unlikely, had there been a conviction after a trial, that van Haaster would have received a prison sentence. The prosecutor said that belief is based on van Haaster's lack of criminal history, his detailed contributions to the community and that he had already been removed from office after a May 2005 recall.

"We would certainly be in a different position if he were still in public office," Cabral said.

Van Haaster served more than 12 years on Murrieta's City Council, including several yearlong stints as mayor.

Child-care center

Most of van Haaster's travails -- including the recall and the conflict-of-interest charges -- stemmed from his daughter's attempt to expand and relocate her Murrieta child care business.

Van Haaster's veteran defense attorney said this was "a difficult case" for him as a lawyer.

"I realized he had terrific legal defenses," Harmon said, adding that he believes van Haaster could have been cleared of the charges at a trial. "But to complete that defense would have taken months, if not years."

He agreed to the plea-bargain rather than continue to fight the charges because his wife is very ill, Harmon said. "That was the motivating factor here."

Van Haaster's wife of 25 years, Deborah Ann, is on a donor list for a kidney transplant, according to attorneys on both sides.

"He is needed daily to care for her," Harmon said. "He could not devote his time and energy to care and tend to her medical needs" while also having to concentrate on his own legal defense.

"He is not shirking his responsibility in this case in any way, however," Harmon said. "He will accept full responsibility for everything he pled guilty to."

Cabral, the prosecutor, said the plea to the felony count in particular sends a message to anyone who tries to use their political position for gain.

Probation approved

Prior to the plea agreement, a county probation officer was asked to review the case and recommend whether van Haaster would be a suitable candidate for probation. The probation officer concluded that he was.

"From a community perspective, the defendant took advantage of his position of trust," probation officer Laurie Lamont wrote. "Incomplete or negligent omissions on financial reporting forms along with overt acts by the defendant with possible

financial benefit must have consequences."

But Lamont wrote that, other than the crimes charged in this case, there did not appear "to be anything in the defendant's background or character that could even be remotely questionable."

The two-year criminal investigation into van Haaster's activities included digging into thousands of financial transactions.

According to court documents, van Haaster received more than $500,000 in loans over a six-year period -- including nearly $200,000 from an employee of his accounting business -- without properly disclosing them as required by law for city officials.

Along with those unreported loans, there was money that went in and out of a bank account set up for van Haaster's daughter's child care center, the court document states.

His daughter, Rachael, operates a small child care center from her Murrieta home and, in early 2004 when she was 22, proposed expanding the center and relocating it to a 3.5-acre parcel on Douglass Avenue on the city's west side.

The conflict-of-interest count Jack van Haaster admitted to had to do with his vote as councilman to approve a paving project on Douglass near his daughter's parcel.

Van Haaster was forced to abstain from voting when the City Council heard an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision brought by two councilmen. Without van Haaster's vote, the council was deadlocked 2-2 and the project was allowed to continue.

‘A very sad saga'

Many of those who know and have interacted with van Haaster over the years spoke out Friday about his guilty pleas.

"Wow, that's a serious blow to him," said Ed Faunce, a leader of Rescue Murrieta and one of the leaders of the recall effort. "I hadn't thought about the penalty, but given his background and all, if you're convicted of a felony, you can't hold office (anymore)."

Rescue Murrieta leaders, Faunce said, had no idea the district attorney was investigating a criminal matter when they were pushing the recall.

"We disagreed with his decisions ... however we did not know there was actual criminal conduct. It's a sad day for him," Faunce said.

Current Murrieta Mayor Doug McAllister said, "It sounds like it's the end of a very sad saga. My hope is, the family, as well as the city, can move on from here."

The leader of a resident group that filed a civil suit against Murrieta over the child care center said he

didn't think the former councilman should go to jail.

"He made a mistake," said Fred Scane. "Being off the City Council and (unable to do) the things he'd like to do is probably punishment enough. ... I just want the day care center to go away."

Another former Murrieta councilman, Kelly Seyarto, said he's glad van Haaster has been able to get the matter resolved and behind him.

Seyarto, who served on the council for more than six years with van Haaster, said he thinks the criminal matter was driven by politics: "I felt very comfortable that had he gone to court, he would have been found innocent."

Of the issue of financial disclosure documents, Seyarto said that politicians mess those up all the time and generally just pay a fine.

He said van Haaster instead had "the district attorney on his back" and "was treated differently for whatever reason."

"There is no victory here -- just a guy who put in 13 years ... for the city, but because of his finances and family's health, he had to plead out," Seyarto said.

Staff writer Brian Eckhouse contributed to this report.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.