Granddaughter Pleads for Dixon’s Freedom

DALLAS —  The 6-year-old granddaughter of convicted Texas thrift owner Don R. Dixon is asking that he be released on bail until his sentencing in February on 23 counts of bank fraud.

Candice Reeves and 79 other friends and relatives of Dixon wrote U.S. District Judge Joe Fish requesting a new bond hearing. Since his conviction Dec. 23, Dixon has been held at a federal jail.

“Dear Judge,” she wrote. “Can big daddy get out of jail? He will not leave town. Love, Candice.”

U.S. Magistrate John Tolle was expected to give Dixon another hearing Friday. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 19, and prosecutors have asked that he stay in jail until then. They fear he will flee the country.

Dixon, the former owner of Vernon Savings & Loan, was convicted of using thrift funds to bankroll lavish parties at a Solana Beach, Calif., home, where he entertained politicians and regulators with prostitutes. He was acquitted on charges of using the funds to make illegal political contributions.

Vernon’s failure in 1987 cost taxpayers $1.3 billion.

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh has called Dixon “the highest of the high fliers among the savings and loan crooks.”

But Dixon and his supporters disagree. In the letters, Dixon says he has family obligations, and others describe him as an honest family man.

In a 12-page letter, Dixon described himself as a former Eagle scout and head of “a close, God-fearing, large Texas family” that never “dreamed” he would be convicted and immediately jailed. He said neither he nor his family had drafted “a survival plan,” and that he needs to attend to family business.

“I have no financial resources, cash or other . . . which would be required to facilitate flight or to support my wife and family in some foreign land,” Dixon said.