CHARITY CATCHES USUAL 'GANG'.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Dozens of Santa Clarita business and civic leaders were ``arrested,'' fingerprinted and booked Wednesday on charges such as cutting out of work early and being too darned nice.

The humiliation in front of co-workers - and in one case a school full of kids - was the easy part. After the ``suspects'' posed for mug shots and accepted guilty verdicts, they sat down and phoned their friends and family, pleading for bail money.

The event was the annual Jail and Bail roundup with a goal of raising $8,000 for the March of Dimes fight against birth defects - a little humor for a serious cause.

The organization costumed its driver in a constable's uniform, the judge in robes and jailers with badges.

``You're guilty, unless you want to plead not guilty. . . . But you'd be guilty anyway,'' said Kimberly Jones, the black-robed ``judge'' pounding an oversize gavel.

Defendant Dennis Keller, manager of Tournament Batting Cages in Saugus, accepted his fate with bowed head, then shed his striped jail garb and got to work. Seated at a phone bank, he began making calls and begging anyone who would listen to help him pay his ``bail'' to the March of Dimes.

Julie Bogosian, principal of Foster Elementary School in Saugus, had a head start. Students collected hundreds of dollars worth of yet-to-be- counted coins - mostly dimes - to help get Bogosian out of jail.

``They did this in one day,'' she said, proudly displaying a mound of silver.

AT&T provided 10 cell phones and free air time for the day. Saturn of Santa Clarita provided room at the agency for the mock jail and court, said Scott Hong, a March of Dimes community chairman.

The March of Dimes raised a record $198.3 million last year, a 9.4 percent increase over 1998. More than $30 million of that funded research by 315 scientists studying birth defects and low birth weight, the leading causes of infant death.

In all, 62 people volunteered for ``arrest'' Wednesday in Santa Clarita. Their job was to make calls, secure pledges and have the money mailed to the organization.

The ``judge'' showed some mercy after finding Linda Helm, owner of the Cutting Edge Salon, guilty not only of resisting arrest, but also of being too darned nice.

When ordered to come up with $500 bail, Helm, still wearing her salon smock, rolled her eyes and begged for community service.

Meanwhile, Belinda Jones, who does public relations for Steinmart in Stevenson Ranch, was working through her electronic Rolodex, hitting up clients for cash.

``I'm calling in a few favors,'' she said.

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Cutting Edge Salon owner Linda Helm, center, hams it up in a striped ``jail'' shirt Wednesday in Santa Clarita. She was among those who phoned friends for ``bail'' to the March of Dimes.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News