Carson Councilman Egan Charged With Mail Fraud

Carson City Councilman Walter J. (Jake) Egan was named in a 11-count federal grand jury indictment Thursday, charging him with accepting illegal contributions from convicted political fixer W. Patrick Moriarty to support a project backed by the wealthy businessman.

The indictment, returned in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accused Egan of nine counts of mail fraud and two counts of attempted interference with commerce by extortion. His arraignment on the charges is set for May 5.

Egan is the 11th defendant indicted in a widespread investigation of Moriarty’s political machinations in which Moriarty laundered more than $260,000 in hidden contributions to politicians throughout the state, according to former Moriarty associates and public records. Of those charged so far, nine have either been convicted or pleaded guilty. One was acquitted.

Official Found Guilty

The most recent conviction in the corruption probe, described as the largest in California in the last 30 years, came last week when Long Beach City Councilman James Wilson was found guilty of 21 counts of mail fraud in dealings with Moriarty.

Egan faces allegations that he defrauded the City of Carson and its citizens of honest government and of the right to be informed of all relevant facts about spending in election campaigns. Egan is accused of meeting in 1980 with Moriarty, now facing seven years in federal prison, and an associate, Richard Raymond Keith, now serving a four-year sentence, and soliciting funds to form a political action committee to make contributions for political purposes in Carson.

“In exchange for the political contributions, defendant Walter J. Egan agreed to support the Casa Del Amo mobile home project, to attempt to influence other members of the Carson City Council to support the project and to attempt to elect candidates to the City Council who would support the project,” the indictment charged.

Three Committees

The means, according to the government, was to form three political action committees: the Public Information and Education Committee, Civic Action Committee and All Automatic Aids, to receive contributions from Moriarty and Keith.

Beginning sometime in 1981 and continuing into 1982, the indictment said, Egan accepted contributions from Keith, which the councilman concealed and failed to disclose, while providing information to Keith and Moriarty about the Carson City Council’s executive sessions.

Late Thursday, Egan said he learned of the indictment on his car radio, “swerved a little bit” and reacted in “disbelief.”

“I am shocked about it,” he said. “I never accepted any contributions from Keith or Moriarty and I never revealed anything from City Council executive sessions. That’s absolutely untrue and ridiculous. . . . I find the charges to be groundless.”

In all, Moriarty was reported in a story published by The Times last month to have contributed $30,000 in laundered political contributions to elect Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt to the Carson City Council in 1981.

Moriarty’s purported goal in secretly supporting DeWitt was to change the balance of power on the council in the hope of winning city approval for development of a mobile home park on a 160-acre landfill. Moriarty’s company held a long-term lease on the property.

Project Died

After DeWitt’s election, a three-member council majority, including DeWitt and Egan, consistently voted in favor of Moriarty’s development plans, but the project died when Moriarty became the center of a political scandal.

Times Staff Writer Donna St. George contributed to this story.