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Former Murrieta City Councilman Warner Enochs Convicted

Last month the voters of Murrieta finally had enough of the long serving City Councilman Warnie Enochs and gave him the boot from their city's government.  The main reason for the ousting of Enochs was the fact  he was who was also facing 14 criminal charges in Riverside Superior Court at the same time.

Yesterday the fall of the little tyrant Warnie Enochs became complete.  A jury of his peers convicted Enochs of 12 criminal charges, including charges of forgery and falsifying records.  According to the Press-Enquirer, Enochs is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6 and could face as many as five years in State Prison.

While Enochs crimes were not related to his City Councill duties, one could easily argue that his power seeking ego and dictatorial attitude that had ballooned during his 13 years on the Murrieta City Council seriously contributed to his acts.  Enochs' acts of forgery and fraud all stemmed from his selfish and mean-spirited efforts to defraud his wife in their divorce proceedings.  

Which again shows how the arrogance of elected officials effects their judgment.  Enochs could not accept that he had failed as a husband and decided that his wife had to pay the price.  Instead dear readers it is now Enochs who will pay the price. 

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco told the Press-Enquirer "Juries Almost Always See The Truth. This Jury Found the Truth.  They held Mr. Enochs accountable."

Full article can be found here:  Press-Enterprise: Ex-Official Enochs Convicted of Charges

Enochs is the second former Murrieta City Councilman to be criminally convicted in the last two years.   The other was Jack Van Haaster who was successfully targeted for recall from office by Rescue Murrieta.  After losing his seat, Van Haaster was brought up on criminal charges which he pled guilty to.

District Attorney Rod Pacheco deserves credit for doing what many DA's, including his predecessor, all too often fail to do:  prosecute corrupt elected officials.  While Grover Trask was renowned for turning a blind eye to political corruption, Pacheco has put an end to that policy.  His office has now successfully prosecuted two Murrieta City Councilmen and yesterday charged former Canyon Lake City Councilman Frank Kessler and his wife Suzanne with embezzlement and the misuse of public funds.  

On the other hand Rescue Murrieta and it litigious mouthpiece Ed Faunce deserve criticism.  In 2005, Rescue Murrieta and Faunce campaigned to recall a majority of City Councilmembers (Van Haaster, Kelly Seyarto, and Doug McAllister) to hand the mayorship and control of Murrieta's government to Warnie Enochs.  Faunce and his PAC vehemently denied this allegation and claimed that the three targeted councilmen were unfit to serve the public.  The insincerity of that argument fell through when they failed to hold Enochs to a similar standard for his conduct.

Fortunately, Rescue Murrieta failed to recall Seyarto and McCallister, keeping Warnie Enochs away from the very power he coveted.  And in the end, the people had the final say on Enochs, at the ballot box and in the jury room.

Former Murrieta City Councilman Pleads Guilty

The sad saga of disgraced and fallen Murrieta City Councilman Jack Van Haaster came to a conclusion on Friday when Van Haaster ended his hopeless defense in the public corruption case against him. 

The former Councilman plead guilty threw up his hands and plead guilty to violating the State's conflict of interest laws and filing false documents with the City of Murrieta and the State regarding his financial interests in the City of Murrieta.

Van Haaster as you may recall dear readers was recalled from the City Council in 2005 by the voters of Murrieta for influencing the approval process of his daughter's day care center.  Although he professed he did nothing improper, a criminal investigation found that he and his wife would financially benefit from the day car center.  While it took a while for the law to catch up with him, the wise voters of Murrieta saw threw his ruse and properly booted him for office.

Van Haaster was arrested last year and charged with five counts of perjury, five counts of filing false documents, and five counts of violating California's conflict of interest laws.    If convicted of the charges Van Haaster could have been sent to state prison for 8 years. 

Van Haaster made a wise decision on Friday by pleading guilty to the two charges, one of them a felony.  By admitting his guilt, Van Haaster avoided time in prison.   He was instead sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation.  Because of former Sheriff Bob Doyle's failures to address jail overcrowding, Van Haaster will be on house arrest with an electronic bracelet on his ankle.

While some may believe Van Haaster got off easy on this one, it is a major milestone dear readers for the restoration of public trust in Riverside County.  This is the first conviction of an elected official for charges arising from public corruption pretty much since Moses came down the mountain with the law in hand.  Hopefully other elected officials who are abusing their office for personal gain are also paying attention because we doubt this will be the last such case in the coming years.