Rawlings Associate Gets Advice From Federal Magistrate

A business associate of slain Woodland Hills entrepreneur Christopher Rawlings was ordered released from jail Thursday on $50,000 bond, but not without some advice from the judge.

“I think the defendant is going to have to lower his sights from his leased BMW and get in touch with reality,” federal Magistrate Judge Rosalyn M. Chapman said, referring to defendant John Charles Watson.

Watson is charged with money laundering and fraud in connection with one of several allegedly bogus telemarketing enterprises that federal prosecutors say were run by Rawlings and two other men.

Rawlings drove a Bentley and wore a Rolex, but Watson showed up in court Tuesday saying his assets were limited to a couple of hundred dollars in a savings account and that he could not afford to pay for a lawyer.

“Negotiating the end of your lease on your BMW is a first step--so you have money to pay for food,” Chapman told the defendant Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Watson was scheduled to be released as soon as court officials received an appraisal of his mother’s house, which is being used to secure his bond.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Brent Whittlesey initially asked that Watson be held without bail. But outside court Thursday he said additional information about Watson’s background convinced him that he was not a flight risk or a threat to the community.

Meanwhile, federal agents on Thursday released a photograph of Peter Aro, who is suspected of running the telemarketing operations along with Rawlings and Scott Courtney. Courtney is awaiting trial on an earlier telemarketing case. An arrest warrant has been issued for Aro, but investigators have not been able to find him.

Rawlings, Aro and Courtney are suspected of bilking more than $19 million from people across the country, many of whom thought they were investing in record or movie deals. The alleged scams were carried out from offices in or around the San Fernando Valley.

Los Angeles police are continuing to investigate whether Rawlings’ past business practices were related to his death, but as yet have found no connection.

The former Crespi High School football player was killed last week during a botched kidnapping. As his kidnappers fled from police in Rawlings’ Bentley, the car went out of control and struck a light pole. Rawlings was ejected from the trunk and killed. Police are looking for two men, both of whom fled the scene of the crash on Tampa Avenue near the Ventura Freeway. One man carjacked another vehicle nearby; the other was last seen offering a $1,000 bill for a ride out of the area.