O.C. Latino Leader Hails End of Probe

By NANCY CLEELAND and JODI WILGOREN

Dec. 5, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

SANTA ANA — A leader of a Latino rights organization that has been under a yearlong criminal investigation into the registration of noncitizen voters said he felt vindicated by a report that the Orange County Grand Jury chose not to indict members of the group.

But Nativo Lopez, executive director of the Santa Ana office of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, said the organization’s image was badly damaged by months of allegations that it orchestrated fraudulent voting.

“It’s hard to erase that afterward,” said Lopez, whose office helped thousands of legal residents become citizens and registered about 1,300 voters before the November 1996 election. “I think there will be permanent damage to the image of this organization, but it’s not something that can’t be overcome.”

Sources this week told The Times that Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi was preparing to end his investigation of Hermandad without filing charges. One source also said the grand jury chose not to indict any officials or employees of Hermandad after the prosecution concluded its presentation three weeks ago.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce Moore would not confirm the grand jury outcome Thursday and said, “Our investigation is still open, and we can’t comment on it. It’s a complex investigation involving thousands of documents and hundreds of witnesses.”

Two high-ranking members of the district attorney’s office met Thursday with California Secretary of State Bill Jones, apparently to discuss the outcome of the investigation. Jones, who has endorsed reforms to prevent voting by noncitizens, announced his own investigation into the matter last January and later called for a review of all 1.3 million registered voters in Orange County, which is still pending.

The district attorney launched his investigation a year ago after it was discovered that some of those who registered to vote at Hermandad did so before taking the oath of citizenship and thus were ineligible to cast ballots.

The issue drew national attention when former Rep. Robert K. Dornan charged that his 984-vote defeat by Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) was due to voter fraud. Dornan’s complaints prompted the House of Representatives to open an investigation that could overturn the election results.

After learning Thursday that the criminal case appeared to be near an end, Democrats on Capitol Hill renewed their pleas for a halt to the House investigation.

“Many Republicans have argued for a year now that this case required unprecedented scrutiny because of alleged voter fraud. The grand jury just knocked the foundation out of that argument,” said Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), the ranking minority member on the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting the inquiry. “With the absence of fraud, it’s time to dismiss this case.”

Reached at his home in suburban Virginia, Dornan said, “This issue isn’t going away.” An official at the district attorney’s office assured him that “the investigation is continuing,” he said.

Dornan’s attorney, Michael Schroeder, called The Times’ story about the imminent end of the case “speculation,” but said even the lack of a criminal indictment should have little bearing on the House probe, which is focused on determining the number of illegal votes cast, not whether there was a criminal scheme for registering noncitizens.

“It shouldn’t have any impact [on the election contest] regardless,” Schroeder said.

Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has often referred to the alleged criminal activity by Hermandad as a justification for the continued congressional probe.

Lopez said he thought he had been targeted in the early days of the investigation, but felt the spotlight turned away from him during the grand jury proceedings. A source said that prosecutors had unsuccessfully sought indictments against two Hermandad employees, but that Lopez was not one of them.

Lopez said he was initially concerned that politics would influence the outcome of the district attorney’s investigation and was bothered by the composition of the 19-member grand jury, which includes no Latinos.

“We were relieved to see the system worked,” he said.

Times staff writer H.G. Reza contributed to this story.