OXNARD : Man Held in Theft to Represent Himself

A Superior Court judge Thursday allowed a former Oxnard financial planner to represent himself in court so he can have has access to the law library while he is being held in Ventura County Jail.

John J. Haggerty, 46, was indicted last month with Wayne N. Fleischer of Oxnard by the Ventura County grand jury on eight counts each of grand theft and tax evasion.

The former partners, who ran an Oxnard financial planning service, are accused of swindling American Express and several of their clients out of more than $1.4 million.

Fleischer, 48, was released on $100,000 bail about three weeks ago, but Haggerty has no assets left, said attorney Richard W. Hanawalt, who represents Fleischer and formerly represented Haggerty.

On Thursday, Haggerty also asked that Judge Charles W. Campbell be disqualified from the case because the judge refused to lower his bail to $40,000, as recommended last month by probation officials.

Campbell removed himself from the case and sent it to Judge Lawrence Storch, who later granted Haggerty the right to represent himself.

The grand jury indictment charges that Haggerty and Fleischer swindled American Express and others by falsifying credit applications and borrowing larger and larger amounts of money.

But Hanawalt contends that American Express breached a contract it had with Haggerty and Fleischer when the company cut them off from further credit.