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Former head of L.A. Coliseum deserved a year in jail in corruption case, probation official says

Patrick T. Lynch, right, the former general manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, with his lawyer at a court hearing last month.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A no-jail sentence recently handed down to the former head of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after he was accused of taking weekly kickbacks for several years was much more lenient than the punishment recommended by probation officials: a year in jail.

The recommendation for Patrick T. Lynch, included in a probation report filed in court when he was formally sentenced last month, has renewed questions about whether the plea deal brokered by prosecutors was too favorable to him.

Lynch was accused in an indictment of pocketing nearly $400,000 from a stadium contractor over the course of more than four years, most of it funneled into a Miami bank account. He originally faced 10 felony counts of embezzlement, conspiracy and other charges carrying more than 15 years in prison.

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Under his deal with prosecutors struck days after his 2012 arrest, he pleaded guilty to one felony count of conflict of interest and agreed to pay $385,000 to public coffers within 45 days. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to a sentence of three years of probation.

In the report filed on Jan. 18, Lynch’s probation officer noted that he had no previous criminal record, had completed 1,500 hours of community service and had paid his restitution.

But the officer recommended that Lynch still spend 365 days in county jail.

“He violated a position of trust,” the officer wrote, adding that the crimes “cannot be minimized or excused” because he paid restitution and completed community service. “This is a serious offense. He needs to be held fully accountable for his actions.”

Government watchdogs criticized the plea deal, saying the punishment amounted to a slap on the wrist.

“Sentences should not be so light that they send a signal that corruption pays no price,” said Kathay Feng, executive director at California Common Cause, calling the agreement a “misstep” by the prosecution.

“It signals the wrong message to people who are in positions of public trust where they have to make daily decisions about forgoing personal profit in order to manage public property,” she said.

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Greg Risling, a district attorney’s spokesman, said prosecutors would not comment. The original prosecutor on the case who agreed to the plea bargain, Max Huntsman, now serves as the county’s inspector general overseeing the Sheriff’s Department. He declined to comment.

Lynch’s attorney, Tony Capozzola, scoffed at the probation officer’s recommendation. “They wanted him to do a year in jail?” he said. “That’s so rude.”

With a chuckle, Capozzola added: “Well, what did he get? How did that happen?”

The attorney said the softer punishment made sense because Lynch took money only from the janitorial contractor and not from rave concert promoters who were accused in the case of making more than $1.8 million in illegal payments to another Coliseum executive.

Some legal experts said they weren’t surprised that Lynch avoided jail or prison, noting that he swiftly repaid the money he took and was available to testify against five others charged in the case. Lynch has not testified because the other defendants either agreed to plea deals or have yet to go to trial.

“In a certain sense, it’s not his problem,” said Juliet Sorensen, a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. “He held up his end of the deal.”

The case grew out of Times reports on financial irregularities at the Coliseum and companion Sports Arena, which Lynch managed for 17 years until he abruptly quit amid scandal in 2011. The historic Coliseum, home to USC football and host to two Summer Olympics, is a joint property of the city, county and state.

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The contractor accused of making the kickback payments to Lynch, Tony Estrada, was among those indicted and remains a fugitive. The payments were allegedly financed by an increase in Estrada’s contracting fees that Lynch arranged.

Lynch admitted to withdrawing about $100,000 from the Miami bank account where the funds were deposited to buy a home for a family member in Massachusetts, according to the probation report. A spokesman for the state retirement system said Lynch receives a monthly public pension of $4,216.

Judges have the authority to reject plea bargains they consider too lenient.

In a similar case about three years ago, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus refused to accept a deal that would have allowed the former mayor of Glendale to avoid time behind bars after he was accused of embezzling more than $300,000 from a farmers’ market. The judge eventually accepted an agreement in which John Drayman pleaded guilty to three felonies and agreed to pay restitution in exchange for a year in jail.

Lynch, 60, appeared last month in Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy’s courtroom, where his sentence was formalized.

His attorney asked the judge to reduce the conflict of interest count from a felony to a misdemeanor. Kennedy said Lynch could return in a year and ask to have the charge reduced. She also sentenced him to 14 days in jail — a procedural matter because he had already served a week behind bars after his arrest and had received credit for another week.

Legal experts said Kennedy’s sentence was largely a formality, since the agreement had been approved five years ago by another judge — George Lomeli.

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Lomeli told The Times this week that he thought justice was served in Lynch’s case, noting that the defendant pleaded out early on, agreed to pay restitution and took a felony on his record.

“Public corruption cases, generally the punishment is harsher. This was probably a lighter sentence, but I’ve seen lighter ones,” Lomeli said, adding that he didn’t think it was “extremely” light. “Could it have been harsher? Probably.”

He said he weighed aggravating factors when he considered the deal, but would not specify what they were.

“You can only do so much based on the strengths and weaknesses of the case,” he said.

Kennedy has been critical of the work performed by the district attorney’s office on the Coliseum corruption case.

Last year, she rebuked prosecutors for repeatedly mishandling evidence and questioned whether the office was capable of handling complex “paperwork” cases.

Shortly afterward, prosecutors agreed to plea deals that spared jail time for the two rave promoters accused of making the illegal payments to a former Coliseum events manager. Under a separate plea bargain, the events manager, Todd DeStefano, was sentenced to six months in jail.

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A sixth defendant, former Coliseum technology manager Leopold Caudillo Jr., is accused of directing stadium business to a company in which he had a financial stake and is charged with conflict of interest. He has pleaded not guilty. His next court date is set for later this month.

Times staff writer Marisa Gerber contributed to this report.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

paul.pringle@latimes.com

Follow us on Twitter: @AleneTchek and @PringleLATimes

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