Murder à la Robin Hood

From the "Trustee Tom Fuentes files" [Fuentes got his start working for corrupt OC supervisor Caspers; Caspers' chief crony was the corrupt Fred Harber; Hoffman was a common thread]:

Update: Wyoming community college killing

     Police released more details Saturday of a grisly murder-suicide at a Wyoming community college, saying a man shot his father in the head with a bow and arrow in front of a computer-science class not long after fatally stabbing his father’s live-in girlfriend at their home a couple miles away. … Computer-science instructor James Krumm, 56, may have saved some of his students’ lives Friday by giving them time to flee while trying to fend off his son. (12/3 update)

* * *

     FAMOUS OC MURDER MYSTERY. This odd episode reminds me of one of Orange County’s greatest murder mysteries, a case that we’ve discussed previously. Here are the facts:
     Tom Fuentes’ political career started when he served, first, as OC Supervisor Ron Casper’s campaign manager (c. 1969-70), then as his executive assistant (1971-4). Casper’s chief political advisor those days was Fred Harbor, owner of the Shooting Star, the yacht that mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Baja in 1974, along with Caspers, Harber, and eight other men. (My earlier examination into the careers of Harber and Caspers has convinced me that these two were quite dirty. If so, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Fuentes was in the thick of these dark doings. See Shooting Star.)
     At the time, Harbor’s trusted secretary was one Arlene Hoffman, who, twenty years later, became a secretary for OC Supervisor Jim Silva:

Arlene Hoffman

     Late in 1994, not long after her husband's death, at the recommendation of Lyle Overby [who, incidentally, disembarked the Shooting Star after the first leg of its doomed voyage], she was employed by newly-elected OC Supervisor Jim Silva, a Republican. When, one day late in December, she didn’t show up for work, Silva had the police go to her Laguna Niguel home. They found her dead body near the entry. She had been killed with an arrow, possibly from a cross-bow, the night before. The arrow was not found on the scene. Nothing was.
     Evidently, nothing had been taken from her home; it had not been ransacked. Her dog was still with her when the police arrived.
     The murderer has never been identified.

OC Register
May 10, 2006
Police, fire, courts LAGUNA NIGUEL

     Orange County sheriff's investigators continue to ask for the public's help in finding the person who killed Arlene Hoffman nearly eight years ago [sic?—eleven and a half years ago].
     Hoffman, 57, was found dead in her Laguna Niguel home Dec. 30, 1994. She may have been killed with an arrow or a similar instrument.
     Anyone with information about the case is asked to call (714) 647-7055.

May 9, 1976 - LA Times - Case against Cella

Louis Cella's trial: Harber, Overby, Hoffman and unanswered questions

     This morning, I read a May 9, 1976 LA Times article, a substantial piece of reporting about the trial of the infamous Dr. Louis Cella, who, along with OC land baron Richard O'Neill, ran a campaign financing scheme in the 1970s—benefitting mostly Democratic candidates but also Republicans such as Ron Caspers—known as the "Dick and Doc Show" ("The Case Against Dr. Cella: Bits and Pieces of Paper").
     It was reported by Richard O'Reilly and Tracy Wood. These days, Wood is Senior Writer for The Voice of OC. Don't know about O'Reilly.
     Cella's business interests involved two hospitals, which devoted substantial square footage to non-medical workers and such non-medical activities as printing. Here, hospital funds would be directed to various persons and vendors. Ultimately, Cella was found guilty of a host of illegal activities, including fraud against the state and feds.
     According to the article, one of the ways in which money was dispersed—often to persons having no clear relationship to the hospital(s)—was through postage refunds issued as treasury checks or postal money orders. Presumably, this helped obscure the money trail from Cella to payees:

     The Grand Jury devoted a full day to testimony by Postal Inspector Peter Hickok about how the hospitals spent at least $145,000 on postage for political campaign mailings.
     He said the hospital checks would set up bulk mailing accounts or buy credit on postage meters. But not all of the postage would be used and refunds would be issued in the form of treasury checks or postal money orders.
     The practice involved about a dozen post offices, but at the time Hickok testified, he said, his investigation was incomplete. He said records showed that refunds totaling more than $92,000 were obtained from two post offices alone—Santa Ana and Cypress. Of that, $55,000 went to Butcher, he said.
     Butcher, who has repeatedly refused to be interviewed by Times reporters, was not called as a witness by the Orange County Grand Jury. He was called before the federal grand jury, however, where he reportedly refused to testify.

The O'Neill family (c. 1950)

     "Butcher" was William Butcher of the campaign consulting firm "Butcher-Forde," which became notorious for bringing computer-assisted mailings and new levels of demagoguery and dirty tricks to OC politics. According to Tom Rogers, B-F were also important in the rise of the influence of developers in OC. 

     Fred Harber, Dick and Doc's chief political advisor, was very close to Butcher-Forde. He was also close to Cella, O'Neill, and Caspers.

     You'll recall that lobbyist Lyle Overby has come up again and again in our saga of curious, Fuentes-related political activity forty years ago and thereafter. He, too, received these curious postal refunds:

     Another person who is recorded as having received postage refunds is Lyle Overby, now an aide to Supervisor Ralph Diedrich. In 1974, Overby received $4,600 in 16 money orders acting as an agent for [codefendant Theodore] Schiffman, Hickok testified.
     Overby, who was then working for the late Fred Harber, has refused to respond to a Times query as to what he did with the money.
     Hickok told the jury it is highly unusual for refunds that large to be made in money orders, which are limited to a maximum of $300 each. (Money orders are issued with the payee’s name blank so that the person obtaining the money order can make it payable to anyone he wishes without anyone else knowing.)

     Why did Overby receive payment in so odd and inconvenient a fashion? And just what was he being paid for? Brain surgery?

     You'll recall that Harber's secretary was a woman named Arlene Hoffman, who was ultimately murdered in her Laguna Niguel home (with a cross bow!) twenty years later. That crime was never solved. (See Who killed Arlene Hoffman? ) (Incidentally, Overby had recommended Hoffman to Supervisor Silva, for whom Hoffman was working when she was killed.)

     She was a witness at Cella's trial, but she was decidedly uncooperative:

Tracy Wood (these days)

     Another mystery man in the transcripts is Fred Harber, a political strategist who was closely teamed with Cory, Cella and O’Neill until he was lost at sea with nine others in June, 1974, when his boat sank off Baja California.
     The Grand Jury called Harber’s executive secretary, Mrs. Arlene Hoffman, to testify, but she repeatedly claimed not to know many details of his work.
     Mrs. Hoffman was paid by the hospitals from 1972 until last fall, but told the jury she didn’t do much work at either hospital until after Harber’s death.
     Before that she worked with Harber in Jesse Unruh’s 1973 mayoral campaign in Los Angeles, Democratic Party fund raising, and in the 1974 primary campaigns of Cory, Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Santa Ana) and Rep. Jerry Patterson (D-Calif.)
     Mrs. Hoffman testified that Harber was a consultant to the hospitals and said she considered the work she did on politics as public relations for the hospitals.
     (However, Patterson told the Times he was not aware she was being paid by the hospitals during the time Harber was working on his congressional campaign.
     (“If there was public relations for the hospitals, they were doing it very subltey,” [sic] Patterson said. “I didn’t know there was a connection with the hospital.”)
     Dep. Dist. Atty. Brice repeatedly tried to get details of Harber’s activities from Mrs. Hoffman, usually without success.
     “Can you tell us anything that he did for Mission Hospital?” Brice asked. “If he was a landscaper there, you could tell us he planted 15 trees regardless of the day or when it occurred, or if he was a nurse, you could say he changed bed pans or something. Do you know something that Fred Harber did related to the activities of Mission Hospital?”
     “No. I can’t answer that question for you; I can only speak in generalities,” Mrs. Hoffman testified.
     One of the “generalities” was that shortly before his death Harber was working on contracts to help large construction firms win approval for their projects from city and county governments.

     What was Hoffman's motive in revealing so little about her and Harber's activities? By the time of the trial, Harber had been dead for nearly two years. Was she motivated by loyalty? By self-interest? (Note: Pam Zanelli, later a SOCCCD PIO, was among those working in the "political" wing of the hospital at the time.)

     You'll recall that, according to developer Richard Jordan, Harber and Caspers were shaking him down for "help" in overcoming county non-approvals that his construction project had encountered. This was at the time of the Shooting Star sinking in June of 1974.

     Caspers, Harber, and eight other men perished in that disaster. Their bodies were never found despite a massive search. (Cella desperately searched for his man Harber long after the "official" searches were abandoned.)

     Like Tom Fuentes, Lyle Overby was supposed to be on that fateful boat trip. But he bailed after its first leg (to Cabo San Lucas). Richard Jordan was also invited but declined (for he wanted the DA to record conversations, which would have been impossible in Mexico).

     It's all very odd.

May 9, 1976 - LA Times - Case against Cella

Norton Simon in Orange County—Tom Rogers' terrific "chopper" yarn—and Arlene Hoffman

Jennifer Jones

     He was a rich industrialist (Hunt-Wesson, Avis) and art collector who ran for Republican candidate for the Senate (in 1970), married actress Jennifer Jones (1973), and is most remembered today for his impressive art museum.
     I'm talking about Norton Simon, Republican.
     He was born in 1907, in Oregon. He died in 1993.
     Susan Stamberg of NPR did a great little piece about Simon and his museum a year or so ago: The Best Museum You Haven't Visited.
     The piece was occasioned by the publication of a book by Sara Campbell, the museum’s senior curator, who has some interesting stories and comments about Simon:

     The successful industrialist approached his art museum with a businesslike efficiency. When he came to visit, he would inspect his collection, but never linger, Campbell recalls: "He would make a circuit of every single work of art and walk as fast as he could."
     Simon hired Campbell 41 years ago [1970] as a typist. She remembers him as a wonderful boss who solicited opinions about art from everyone.

Norton Simon

     "He asked everybody what they thought about the collection," Campbell says. "He would ask me, he would ask the most prestigious museum director, and he would ask his cook."
     But after gathering the information so democratically, Simon would do whatever he wanted, Campbell says.

     SIMON COMES TO OC. Simon quit college (UCB) in 1925 to start a sheet-metal business. In 1927 he paid $7000 for an orange juice bottling plant in Fullerton, named Val Vita Food Products Co. The company soon expanded into vegetable juices and then canning. By 1943, Simon was in charge of Hunt Foods after its merger with Val Vita.
     Evidently, Simon was a pioneer of aggressive marketing, placing ketchup ads in upscale magazines. By 1945, Hunt Foods was a household name and the company slogan, “Hunt for the best,” was familiar to everyone. I recall the slogan from my youth.
     So Simon was an Orange County guy, in some sense.
     I found this picture of workers at Val Vita in Fullerton (see at right)—probably in the 30s. Very cool. (I briefly worked at the Hunt-Wesson factory during one summer, circa 1974. As I recall, the whole place—even the interior—seemed covered in oil.)

At Val Vita, Fullerton

     TOM ROGERS' YARN. Do you recall Tom Rogers? I’ve written about him recently—in connection with Tom Fuentes and his mentor, the decidedly hinky Mr. Ronald Caspers, the OC Supe who died in 1974.
     Rogers, who died about six years ago, was an OC landowner and rancher who became involved in OC Republican politics starting in the early 60s. He served as OC GOP chair starting about 1968—just before things went all to hell. By the 80s, he became alienated from the GOP establishment and was a leader in OC’s “slow growth” movement, which, sadly, failed miserably in staunching the tide of ruinous development, which continues.
     Despite his having supported right-winger John Schmitz, all things considered, Rogers seems to have been an admirable guy. (See Straight-shooting conservative Tom Rogers on Caspers, Harber, and what they portended.)
     Well, I’ve been rereading Rogers' important book (Agents’ Orange—I seem to have the only copy that's left) and I came across the following terrific story about the Norton Simon campaign of 1970:

Actor George Murphy

     In 1970, [conservative Senator George] Murphy was up for reelection, and a surprise opponent appeared, vowing to contest the Republican Primary [—namely, industrialist Norton Simon of Fullerton]….
     It was clear to most observers that Simon was in the race as a stalking horse [i.e., not a serious candidate] to discredit Murphy. He had scads of money, and would be formidable in weakening Murphy in the primary campaign.
     Given the scenario, I [as OC GOP chair] was at the Registrar of Voters office in Santa Ana on the last day for filing papers, a practice that I had followed for several years. My purpose was to scout the opposition, and to dissuade any “ringer” from jumping in on the GOP side of the ticket. To solve any problem which might arise, I had three of my most trusted interns assist me at the Registrar that particular day.
     At about 3:30 P.M. a stranger came in looking somewhat harried. It was obvious that he did not know the procedures, so I approached him and asked if he needed help. Grateful, he told me he was from the Norton Simon campaign, and when they tried to file their papers with the LA Registrar, they were told that because Simon had listed an OC address as his place of residence (Hunt Foods in Fullerton), the papers would have to be filed in OC. They were also told that the papers would require the signatures of 30 local residents.
     I took the man in the gray suit over to the counter, and helped him obtain the forms. When I asked him how he was going to get signatures at such a late hour, he told me that they had a roomful of local Republican employees ready to sign, and he was on his way to gather the signatures and would return to Santa Ana before 5:00 P.M.
     It was after 4:00 by the time he had everything, and when he left the building I called one of the interns over, filled him in on the situation and directed him to follow the man’s car to the Grand Avenue on-ramp, and to rear-end him on the ramp. My orders were to insist that the Highway Patrol be called, and this [delay] would effectively end Simon’s bid since any delay would cause the papers to be filed too late. It would have been close even without the fender bender.
     The young staffer, always loyal and unquestioning, jumped into his wreck of a car, and took off in hot pursuit.
     I could not believe my great good fortune. I had pulled off the coup of the decade, and even called Murphy headquarters to let them in on how brilliant I actually was. In what seemed a rather short time, the intern came back, out of breath and red in the face. I was concerned that he had gone too far and had actually caused a real wreck.
     “What happened?” I asked.
     “I jumped into my car, and the man got into his, but he drove across the street to the orange grove. He got out and ran, and I followed him on foot.” His story stopped while he caught his breath.
     “Then what?”
     He responded, “The man ran to a clearing past the grove, and jumped into a helicopter which was waiting for him—he jumped in and they took off and I tried, but I couldn’t stop the chopper.”
     Simon’s man got back in time with the papers, and the business tycoon spent millions in a campaign, which did nothing except discredit George Murphy.
     Murphy lost to John Tunney…. (pp. B-18-B-20)

     Now that’s a great yarn. I believe every word of it.
     (You’ll recall that the Robert Redford movie, The Candidate (1972), was loosely based on the Tunney campaign.)

Val Vita Foods, Fullerton

P.S.: Arlene Hoffman—& Simon—& Harber—& Cella

     At the time of the "chopper" incident, Simon's secretary was one Arlene Hoffman.
     Remember her? From 1972 until 1974, she was the office manager or secretary for Fred Harber and Associates. Harber was the “genius” political consultant who, starting in the late 60s or early 70s, assisted the infamous Dr. Louis Cella (partner of Richard O'Neill), who essentially controlled Orange County politics (or at least the Board of Supervisors) during the mid to late 70s. 
     It was the worst scandal in OC's history.

     Among the OC Supervisors Cella owned was Ron Caspers, for whom Tom Fuentes was chief assistant (Fuentes had also been made a "consultant" to Caspers S&L).

     Both Caspers and Harber mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Baja California in June of 1974—in the famous “Shooting Star” incident.

     After that tragedy, Ms. Hoffman worked at Cella's hospital and was eventually (1976) compelled to testify before a grand jury about Cella's political and business activities. 
     Some (in the DA's office) believe that she lied on the stand to protect him.

     Then, from 1978 through 1991, she ran her husband’s office (he was a probate referee).

     Late in 1994, not long after her husband's death, at the recommendation of Lyle Overby [who, incidentally, disembarked the Shooting Star just before it left for its doomed voyage], she was employed by newly-elected OC Supervisor Jim Silva, a Republican. When, one day late in December, she didn’t show up for work, Silva had the police go to her Laguna Niguel home. They found her dead body near the entry. She had been killed with an arrow, possibly from a cross-bow, the night before. The arrow was not found on the scene. Nothing was.

     Evidently, nothing had been taken from her home; it had not been ransacked. Her dog was still with her when the police arrived.

     The murderer has never been identified.

Unsolved 1994 murder in Laguna Niguel

OC Register
May 10, 2006
Police, fire, courts LAGUNA NIGUEL

     Orange County sheriff's investigators continue to ask for the public's help in finding the person who killed Arlene Hoffman nearly eight years ago [sic?—eleven and a half years ago].
     Hoffman, 57, was found dead in her Laguna Niguel home Dec. 30, 1994. She may have been killed with an arrow or a similar instrument.
     Anyone with information about the case is asked to call (714) 647-7055.