Chatsworth Docket: Fraud, Homicide Among Upcoming Court Cases

With area courts being squeezed financially, Superior Court felony cases are moving to the San Fernando Courthouse from Santa Clarita, beginning Sept. 12.

That will push traffic cases out of San Fernando to the Chatsworth Courthouse, beginning Oct. 3.

However, despite the reorganization, these Chatsworth cases are already in the legal pipeline:

SEPT. 6: MAIL FRAUD

Eliott Jay Dresher, a 63-year-old Chatsworth man who allegedly raked in about $13 million from a bogus NASCAR apparel business was expected to plead guilty Tuesday to federal mail fraud, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Dresher was accused of stealing and falsely telling friends and relatives they were financing a NASCAR merchandising business, bilking dozens of victims in a Ponzi scheme that siphoned money from investors, friends and family members.

Investigators say Dresher ran the operation for 10 years and early investors were paid with money from later victims.

The indictment also alleges four counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.

The scheme collapsed when he was unable to make payments to investors, according to the indictment.

SEPT. 7-8: ASSAULT; MOLESTATION; HOMICIDE

A cascade of court cases begins, starting with Chatsworth resident Aaron Clay Tanner, who is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Tanner, 31, has been accused of stabbing his mother, assaulting a peace officer and committing a carjacking on Dec. 24, among other charges.

Tanner was being held at Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $1.9 million bail and was initially charged with one count each of assault with a deadly weapon, a knife; assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury; kidnapping for carjacking; attempted carjacking; and felony evading law enforcement.

If convicted, Tanner faces a possible sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Joseph Reyes Rogero, 24, of Van Nuys, who is accused of impersonating a police officer and fondling at least five young girls near Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth, was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Rogero worked at a Chatsworth martial arts studio.

He was being held in lieu of $5.5 million at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.

Rogero was initially charged with 18 felony counts and one misdemeanor count, including kidnapping for child molestation and lewd acts on a child.

Also on Thursday, Chatsworth resident David Neylander Pearson, who is accused of killing his girlfriend in their apartment on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, will appear in San Fernando Courthouse.

According to authorities, Pearson walked into the LAPD Topanga Community Police Station and confessed to strangling Kirstin Hyde, 62.

Pearson remained in custody at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles in lieu $1 million bail.

SEPT. 14: SHOOTING DEATH

David Armstrong is scheduled to appear Sept. 14 in the San Fernando Courthouse in the shooting death of his longtime friend Brian Kaplon. They attended Chatsworth High School together.

Both men were 32 years old at the time of Kaplon's March 18 death at Armstrong’s Porter Ranch home in a gated community off Rinaldi Street.

Kaplon was an executive with NBC Universal.

An attorney representing Armstrong has said the shooting was accidental. Armstrong was released on $1 million bail.

SEPT. 19: FIGURE IN DOUBLE-SLAYING CASE

Suspect Brent D. Zubek is due in court on Sept. 19.

Zubek, who was being held without bail, is suspected in the killling of a Chatsworth man and woman whose decomposed bodies were found in a trash bin in the 22000 block of Lassen Street.

At this time, he is charged only with six counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer and one count each of possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a loaded, stolen firearm.

The names of the victims have not been released, according to coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey.

Harvey said LAPD’s Devonshire Division has the case on a security hold until it can continue with its investigation.

Zubek is currently housed at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

OCT. 7: HIT-AND-RUN DEATH

Steven Rush of Porter Ranch and his daughter, Dominque Marie Rush, are due in the Van Nuys Superior Courthouse on Oct. 7 for a preliminary hearing in the hit-and-run death of a Chatsworth High School senior.

Dominique Marie Rush, 23, is charged with vehicular manslaughter and other charges stemming from the crash that killed German Alex Romero, 17, a senior who was riding a bicycle in Canoga Park with a friend at about 9 p.m. on April 20.

Steven Rush, 44, is charged with being an accessory after the fact.

NOV. 8: BANK ROBBERY

The case against alleged bank robber James Jon Erhardt moves forward on Nov. 8.

Erhardt, 43, of Chatsworth, is accused of robbing the Union Bank on Devonshire Street in Chatsworth and a Woodland Hills bank where he was a customer.

He allegedly robbed $3,935 at the Union Bank, 21821 Devonshire St., in Chatsworth on May 18.

Erhardt is also accused of using force, violence and intimidation to rob $3,900 from the Bank of America, 5959 Canoga Ave., in Woodland Hills.

Erhardt was being held at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center.

According to the FBI, Erhardt passed a note to a frightened Bank of America teller saying he was armed, and demanded $100 bills. He is seen on a surveillance tape allegedly robbing the bank where the manager said he was a regular customer, authorities said.

In both cases, Erhardt, who was identified in a photograph lineup, allegedly used the same technique at the Union Bank in Chatsworth, according to the FBI complaint.

SCHEDULED IN MARCH: SUIT AGAINST EX-PASTOR

The civil lawsuit against a former pastor, accused of sexually molesting a young girl who attended Foursquare Church in Chatsworth, is scheduled for March 20 in downtown Los Angeles.

Earlier this week, the court was scheduled to hear motions in the Dec. 15 case against International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and Martin Briviesca Leon, who was criminally charged in the Jan. 8, 2009, molestation.

Approximately one year earlier, Leon allegedly sexually assaulted another child. When that child complained of the abuse to another pastor at the church, it went unheeded, according to the complaint.

Leon pleaded no contest and was convicted of one count of child abuse. One count of sexual battery was dismissed at sentencing on Jan. 11, 2010, when Leon was sentenced to 365 days of jail and was
placed on formal probation for five years.

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