SHELTON WAITING FOR A JUDGE : EMBEZZLEMENT CASE AGAINST HUSBAND OF COUNCILWOMAN DELAYED.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

The misdemeanor embezzlement case against Lancaster City Councilwoman Deborah Shelton's husband shuttled between two courts Monday, unable to find a judge willing to hear it.

Antelope Municipal Court Judges Howard Swart and William Seelike both disqualified themselves while court officials in Newhall said they were too busy to take the case.

The case was postponed until today while Los Angeles County's Judicial Council is asked to provide a judge.

Attorneys for Thomas Shelton have subpoenaed 16 people, including former state GOP party chairman Frank Visco, Lancaster attorney R. Rex Parris, Lancaster Planning Commissioner Ed Sileo, and Ron Deady, director of the Lancaster prison's prerelease program.

Judge Richard Spann was unavailable to hear the case, and Judge Pamela Rogers is the wife of attorney Randolph Rogers, whose office is representing Visco.

Thomas Shelton has pleaded not guilty to embezzling $1,500 from a foreign exchange student who lived with the Sheltons last fall under a Rotary Club exchange program.

A hearing was scheduled Monday on motions filed by attorneys for Parris and Visco to set aside the subpoenas. The motions state that it appears the subpoenas were served to garner testimony in support of a ``collateral defense of discriminatory prosecution,'' court records show.

Shelton's attorney, Dawn Reichman, said she could not comment on why she subpoenaed the witnesses, saying the case was continuing.

``I never filed a motion for discriminatory prosecution. That's something they are just guessing on,'' Reichman said outside court. ``We have subpoenaed people who we feel are relevant to the case.''

Shelton has said he never intended to keep the money and that it had been returned. He said the money was put into the bank account of his auto restoration business in November.

The student, a 17-year-old girl from Thailand, asked him to make a deposit into her account, but while waiting in line in his bank, Shelton said, he received an emergency page and put both her money and his into his account.

Shelton said in a Feb. 9 interview that he had transferred the money from his account into the girl's account three days earlier, the same day an anonymous phone call about the money was made to the Sheriff's Department.

The same day, Deborah Shelton called the accusation a politically motivated attack, and an attempt to discredit her through her husband.

Prosecutors allege that the victim gave the money to Shelton to deposit in her account at Home Savings and Loan, court records show. Shelton instead deposited the money into his own account at the Antelope Valley Bank, records show.

``The victim gave to the defendant money to deposit into her personal account. The defendant diverted the money for his use to pay bills and is therefore guilty of embezzlement,'' Deputy District Attorney Jeff Gootman wrote in a court brief.

According to Gootman's brief and the filing by the Parris' attorney, the Rotary Club subsequently repaid the money to the victim, and Shelton agreed to repay Rotary, court records show.

Any allegation of selective prosecution is completely unfounded, Gootman said.

``Why this case was brought is irrelevant. How law enforcement found out about the crime is also irrelevant. To allow testimony on that subject would be a waste of time since it is not an issue the jury can legally concern themselves with,'' Gootman wrote in his brief.

Sileo was in court Monday.

``I have no idea why I was subpoenaed because I have nothing to add to the case. I was not involved in Rotary. Other than an occasional social function, I never see the Sheltons,'' Sileo said.

Newspaper articles quoted in court documents said Deborah Shelton accused Sileo's father, Pat, her 1992 council election campaign treasurer, of having a ``vendetta'' against her.

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Photo

Photo: (color in AV edition only) Thomas Shelton and his wi fe, Lancaster Councilwoman Deborah Shelton, center, confer with their lawyer Monday outside Antelope Municipal Court.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News