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Update: Norm Ryan Guilty On All Five Counts
Update: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at 11:29 a.m.
An impassive Norm Ryan heard the jury return verdicts of guilty on all five felony counts against him shortly after 11 a.m. today.
The jury had deliberated about six hours before reaching its decision.
He sat for the reading of the counts and betrayed no emotion, nor did his wife, who sat three rows behind him, where she’d been through her husband’s criminal trial on charges of swindling about $1,400 from Haven Humane Society while he was its CEO.
Not a sound from the courtroom.
Ryan will remain released on bail until his sentencing hearing on June 16.
He could face a maximum of almost six years in prison.
Prosecutor Erin Dervin said she didn’t know yet what she would request with regard to sentencing. She will take into account his history, his attitude and his criminal record, she said.
“We are pleased,” she said. “The jury came to the correct verdict.”
Norm Ryan and his wife left the courtroom looking shocky and said they didn’t want to talk.
Defense attorney Joe Gazzigli declined to say any more than, “We’re just letting things settle in for now.”
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Tuesday
While the jury for the Norm Ryan criminal trial discusses the evidence and arguments of the case, here’s what happened Tuesday inside Honorable Monica Marlow’s courtroom.
The morning began with court instructions for the jurors. Among Marlow’s many detailed reminders, she told the jury that their decision must be based upon the evidence only, and that what the attorneys said is not part of the evidence. She asked the jurors to use their common sense and experience, and to remember that it’s not enough that someone may have done something wrong, but whether the person behaved with wrongful intent. Marlow said the jury couldn’t convict the defendant unless he was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Marlow went over each of the five charges against Ryan:
Count 1- Embezzlement by a public officer
Count 2 - Identity theft
Count 3 - Grand theft of personal property
Count 4 - Identity theft
Count 5 - Grand theft of personal property
(Note, regarding the first count, Ryan was considered a public officer because his alleged crimes happened while he was the animal shelter’s CEO, a place partially funded by the City of Redding’s public money.
Regarding identity theft, one charge relates to the use of Southwest Airlines’ logo on the faked itinerary. The other identity theft relates to the use of Haven Humane’s credit card for personal gain. Identity theft relates to the unauthorized use of someone else’s identity. Marlow explained that organizations have identities, too.)
Prosecuting attorney Erin Dervin, who’s represented The People throughout this trial, presented her arguments first.
Her spoken words matched the outline projected upon the courtroom screen where she’d organized every point, sometimes with exclamations and all caps. She opened by telling the jury - as she had at the beginning of the trial - that this was a simple case of greed. Dervin said Ryan knew he could exploit the animal shelter’s liberal reimbursement practices, and that he was routinely reimbursed without supporting documentation, because he was “the BOSS!”
Dervin’s voice pitched and dipped as she drove her points home. Raised voice, raised eyebrows, raised hands that moving with emphasis. Dervin said this case came down to “who you believe” - a politician and master spinner who has an explanation for everything. She said Ryan’s behavior didn’t pass the “sniff test” and that he lied to cover up other lies.
“He’s so arrogant he thought he could talk his way out of it,” Dervin said during the part of her argument in which she referred to Ryan’s telephone conversation with Long Beach reporter John Canalis, who subsequently wrote a story about it in June, one month before Ryan knew the exact charges.
“He’s lying,” Dervin said of Ryan. “He didn’t know what he didn’t know.”
Dervin focused a lot of attention on the forged Southwest document, which Ryan has claimed he didn’t create. (Remember, Ryan said he could speculate . . . about who did it, but we never heard more about that.)
Dervin asked how anyone else could have forged that document other than Ryan, since it contained the last four digits of his credit card, and his home email address, and even the confirmation number from a flight he’d booked in February, prior to his employment with Haven.
“If someone was going to frame him, why not do it earlier to get rid of him?” Dervin asked.
Dervin summed up her argument by saying the only logical explanation was Ryan committed fraud and stole money from Haven. She said the evidence was overwhelming that he made the fake Southwest document … “and not even a good fake.”
She said that for the jury to find Ryan not guilty, they’d have to believe he was the only one telling the truth, that someone else altered his Southwest document.
“To find him not guilty you have to believe him,” Dervin said. “And that’s a tall order.”
Defense attorney Joe Gazzigli’s turn to argue:
Gazzigli and Dervin were a study in contrasts. No Power Point for Gazzigli. No raised voice (quite the contrary). He approached the jury and spoke softly. Low and slow.
Gazzigli said the charges against Ryan were a “mistake from Day One,” and added, “Do you believe Norm Ryan set this whole thing up to steal $600 and $700? That’s what this is about.”
Gazzigli said that in hindsight, Ryan wishes he’d documented more carefully and been more meticulous.
“He didn’t intend to take money from Haven,” he said.
Gazzigli reminded the jury that the reason RPD was called in the first place to investigate Ryan was because Haven couldn’t account for $300,000, which was eventually accounted for. He also reminded the jury how Haven spent $16,000 on an audit that showed nothing missing.
Gazzigli mentioned the gap of days from April 2 to around April 11 - the time between which Ryan left Haven and the police took away evidence.
“Someone had access to Norm Ryan’s office for considerable amounts of time,” Gazzigli said.
Regarding Dervin’s mocking (my words) Ryan for not having contacted Long Beach reporter John Canalis to complain about what Ryan claimed were errors in Canalis’ story, Gazzigli said the reason Ryan didn’t contact Canalis is Ryan’s lawyer (prior to Gazzigli) told Ryan not to. (Update from from Doni: 10:42 p.m. Tues. May 4 - I corrected the paragraph above - seen in blue -to better reflect Ryan’s belief that Canalis’ story contained mistakes. I apologize for the confusion.)
Gazzigli said that for the jury to be fair and just, they must find Ryan innocent.
The People have the burden of proof, so Prosecutor Dervin has the last word: She cut to the chase and tore into the “it was just a mistake” explanation:
“An altered document is not a mistake,” she said. “It was the defendant who altered the document. Just trust him? A mistake has to be a reasonable mistake.”
Addressing some of Gazzigli’s remarks about the relatively low amount involved (about $1,300) - Dervin said, “It’s not about how much money was involved. … It doesn’t matter if it was $10 or $10 million.”
She said the case was The People versus Norm Ryan because the public is the victim.
Dervin said Ryan wasn’t to be trusted.
“He’s spinnin’, spinnin’ those facts,” she said. “His word is not worth much . . . He doesn’t care about the truth. He just cares about himself.”
Dervin said she didn’t have to prove his motivation.
“Money is a powerful thing. Greed is a powerful thing,” She said.
According to Dervin, the only one who had access to Ryan’s office after he left was the computer technician called in by Preston and Bailey. (As an aside, I don’t recall hearing any evidence to that effect.)
“Nothing the defendant has told you makes sense,” she said. “The only reasonable explanation is he stole money from Haven … The simple answer is he thought he could get away with it.”
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I hope the jury carefully and dispassionately considers the evidence. If they can’t stay on that path, the verdict is too likely to be based on which attorney “won.” That ain’t justice.
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I have not read the other posts, but these charges seem bogus. Norm was an honest man here in Long Beach. That is why the local politicans feared him. Not an honest one in the bunch. The City Staff is the worst. Huge pay but they hire their consultant friends to do the heavy lifting. Norm, my guess is that you were being framed. The Southwest thing is a puzzle. Did you panic over a mistake? Or was it a “frame.” The whole thing needs to give Norm the benefit of the doubt since it seems like a vindetta.
Paul
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I don’t understand all the attention to this petty case, here and in other media…
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Rose Reply:
May 6th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
He has been found guilty and that is that. I agree on one hand it is a bit petty, however on the other hand this is a non-profit organization and an employee of his stature should be completely above board.
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stasia pringle Reply:
May 6th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Ok, so let’s see if I can explain it…
He took (out of a sense of entitlement?) money from abandoned kittens and puppies, abused and neglected animals,and defenseless pets left behind when their “owners” decided the grass was greener in a better home (without pets). Hmmmm.
There comes a time when everyone has to speak up. Thank goodness it was the district attorney’s office in this case.
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Barbara Wentzel Reply:
May 7th, 2009 at 6:47 am
We are a one horse town where a cardiologist and surgeon got away with murder for years and docs in town made jokes like, ” If you break your arm, don’t go to RMC! You’ll come out with a heart bypass!” Where was the local press when that holocaust was going on? We have weird priorities in this town. CSO’s are let go so the city council can break the police union. Move to Oakland! At least you know it’s obviously unsafe there!
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Doni and Kelly…good job of covering this public scammers escapade of being the CEO of The Haven Humane Society. A job he shouldn’t have been in in the first place.
The man isn’t qualified to be intrusted with the public’s donations to a worthy cause and credit cards using it for his personal trips.
Prosecuting attorney Erin Dervin got it right when she said, “He’s so arrogant he thought he could talk his way out of this.”
The jury thought otherwise.
Thanks to the jury for seeing through this man’s lies.
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I doubt he was “framed”. He just thought he could make a couple of “honest” mistakes and get away with it.
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Norm fooled me. I always thought he was a ’stand up’ guy that had served his Country well. Just like #2, Hansen, at the FBI, perhaps, Norm had a lot going on?Who knows? It is all very disappointing.
The animal shelter is a sad place to have this type of thing going on. They are innocent. I hope that this does not hurt donations, and that trustworthy people can straighten the place out.
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I have known Norm and his family for many years. He has stood up to corrupt politicians and done a lot of good in Long Beach. I suspect that there were political motives to get Norn and they eventually found something small that they were able to use. Politicians higher up do much worse things and get away with it every day. It is sad that they had to destroy Norm.
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Doni, thank you for the very fair reporting on this case. Please, please do some deeper probing into Haven and Yvonne Preston. There is something extremely unsettling about this whole case. This whole thing started as a giant accusation of large sums of money. The police were called in and then much later it ends up being receipts for six and seven hundred dollars. Isn’t there a rule about chain of evidence? His office was under the complete control, for weeks, by the very folks who testified against him. It seems that a person who would give a thousand dollars to have a position on this board would be highly motivated and not a credible witness. Ms. Preston also was the person who took over his position immediately after he left. Doesn’t this show that she really wanted the power in this organization?
I’m also very curious about the other woman who testified. Was Mr. Ryan her superior? Was she passed over for his position? Was she in jeopardy in her job position? What did she have to lose or gain?
You can call Southwest and get confirmation numbers for flights without proving your identity and the last four digits of a credit card are on every receipt you get. Why did this Southwest receipt show up late in the game? This is all so unsettling and does not make sense.
In the testimony, Mr. Ryan gave more of his personal money to fellow employees for insulin and funeral plans than he was accused of taking. He donates his spare time to perform with his children in nursing homes. That isn’t consistent with being greedy. Please dig deeper into this story. Common sense says there is something deeply wrong.
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To BCowell - good questions. Since Haven had a “shortage of funds” when Ray John took over, where did the money go? The donors and taxpayers should know what monies were spent on salaries (Norm Ryan, Rich Steele, Yvonne Preston, Joy Y., etc.) All of whom are gone now. What was the missing then found $300,000.00 used for? When the previous CEO, Joel Warner, left the organization there was over 1,000,000.00 in the “kitty.”
Will the BOD will ever hire someone who has knowledge about animals? There is more to an animal shelter than just money. What is the difference between a
Director of Development and a Director of Fundraising?
I think it is interesting that an organization that gets most of its working capital from the taxpayers AND accepts donations from the public does not have to provide an accounting of where the money is spent. If the money was spent foolishly then so be it. Not offering an explanation is really suspect. Norm Ryan is not the end of the story.
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Norm Ryan stood by me when I was falsely accused by my former candidates daughter. She accused me ot stalking her, as her family has accused others.
Norm gave up his time and energy to come to court to defend me as many others also did. In my case the judge threw it out for lack of any truth to the allegations. I will never forget Norm standing by me and I have the utmost faith that this is bogus..
I have no personal knowledge of this incident, but i would doubt bery much that Norm Ryan would waste his time trying to swindle anyone for such a small amount. The potential for time in Jail appears ludicrous. I am glad I don’t live in their town.
My prayers are with his family at this time and I hope he appeals the case.
For anyone to go this far to crucify someone, as I felt was the root of my case, means someone was afraid of him and wanted to ruin his future as a politician.
Tracy
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Thank you Doni fand Kelly for following through with the Haven disaster.
I agree with the previous comments regarding further investigation regarding the missing hundreds of thousands of dollars and Yvonne Preston’s involvement with promoting Norm to be hired as Haven’s CEO when another much more qualified applicant who had animal shelter experience was ignored. Since Yvonne was personally and politically connected to Norm, she should not have been so closely involved in the selection.
It is also curious that she would feel qualified to take over as a “volunteer” and later, paid CEO instead of Rich Steele was being paid as the Asst. CEO and long term supervisor Lee Anne Smith, who was qualified and directed to help train Norm for his first 6 months which is documented in the fall 2007 Haven newsletter that said he could not have done the job without her help. Well, evidently he didn’t do very well afterwards.
In the previous years, Haven never needed to hire and pay large salaries to various Asst. Directors or Clinic managers because they had a single experienced, trained animal shelter manager who oversaw and supervised both the shelter and clinic operations. What animal or shelter experience do these asst. managers have? Do these people actually add knowledge regarding shelter operations to justify the pay for their positions?
During the two years after Yvonne came on the board, the majority of long-time members resigned and were replaced by personal / political friends that she promoted and then was elected to the president of the board. It would be interesting to talk to former board members and volunteers and ask why they left after serving for lengthly terms during which the shelter was headed by the previous knowledgeable leaders with good animal shelter background.
Under Norm and Yvonne’s leadership, many long term, experienced employees were fired because they resisted biased decisions and tried to inform Norm, Rich and Yvonne that they were not following long time established Haven policies. Many animals also suffered due to the the president and CEO’s lack of animal and shelter knowledge.
As a non-profit, public supported organization answers should be provided so donators can see just where their donations have gone and why.
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I’m horrified by this outcome. I’ve known the man for 15 years and I’ve never met a more honest, moral or compassionate guy. I have to say that this- travesty- is the result of petty local politics and a stupendous job of character assassination. My thoughts are with him.
I actually sat in the courtroom for part of the trial and in the three hours I was there I caught discrepancies in the prosecutions testimony. In the openning statements the prosecuting attorney characterized Norm as a secretive guy who moved the controllers desk as far from him office as possible. In her opening statement! The first witness (the controller) testified that she was moved before Norm got there. This, or course, didn’t slow the prosecutor down much.
I think it was Yvonne testified to the prosecutor that she thought Norm should NOT be fund raising for the Society because he had more important executive things to do and it was her opinion that he didn’t have enough time to do that.
(The impression that the prosecutor was going for was that Norm was busy juggling money and seeking out funding instead of doing his job as an executive).
When Yvonne was asked by the defense attorney why they hired Norm (literally 30 seconds later) she said it was to “Punch up the Fund Raising”.*facepalm* Even the jury’s head snapped at that one. Huh? Say what?
The board members who testified were continuously contradicted by the public record (the board meeting minutes). They said they thought he wasn’t doing a good job, but the record shows that they gave him a $5,000 raise. They said that HE gave them a one-page six line budget, but in truth (from the public record) someone else presented them with the budget executive summary and a stack of documentation that they never read. All of their testimony was contradicted by the public record. It all gets REALLY fishy once someone decided that they didn’t like Norm. They did their best to rewrite history to paint him as something he is patently NOT (incompetent, lazy, unaccountable).
I don’t even want to consider how it was that the people at the shelter (the board members) had access to his office for 9 days before the police got there. 9 days. Everyone’s time-line was off, the stories were different, the testimony was directly contradicted by the public record. How does this HAPPEN?
This just breaks my heart.
I’ll leave with a Kissenger quote:
“University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.”
-Henry Kissinger ”
You can paraphrase that yourself. I just hope to God there is an appeal process.
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