DATE: Thursday, September 18, 1997          TAG: 9709180324

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   89 lines

BASEBALL GROUP SEEKS CIVIL DAMAGES IN WAKE OF BINGO CASE IF A CONSPIRACY IS PROVED, THE DEEP CREEK ASSOCIATION COULD GET MILLIONS IN DAMAGES.

Lawyers for the Deep Creek Baseball Association on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking damages from five people and a bingo supply company they allege embezzled more than $1 million from their youth baseball program.

The suit charges that the defendants misappropriated bingo funds, committed fraud and conspired to embezzle money. It seeks $1 million in damages - an amount a judge or jury could triple if a conspiracy were proved.

``This is a volunteer organization,'' said Mitchell M. Breit, a lawyer representing the baseball association in the civil matter. ``They're doing volunteer work for kids. Suddenly you've got a bunch of vultures who step into a charitable organization and steal, and they're not taking money from the organization; they're taking it from the kids.''

Named in the lawsuit, filed in Chesapeake Circuit Court, are:

George West, the league's former bingo manager.

Barbara Ocker, a volunteer at the bingo games, who served for a short time as game manager. Breit said Ocker is West's girlfriend.

Rogelio Legarda, a player who briefly served as league accountant.

A bingo supply company, Frank Moran & Sons Inc., of Baltimore, and two company employees, Jeffrey G. Moran of Baltimore and Keith H. Ward, a local employee.

West, Legarda, Ward and Moran were all charged criminally. Last week Moran pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

Danny Moore, president of the baseball association, said the money problems have taken their toll on the organization, run by volunteers.

``We've spent a whole lot of our time on this case instead of focusing on playing baseball,'' he said. ``I think maybe the quality of our league play suffered because so many key coaches didn't have the time to spend with the kids. So instead of Johnny hitting five home runs, maybe he only hit two.''

Moore said he thinks the league's image also suffered from the confusion and publicity. Registration in the league, which usually attracts about 650 youths, was down by about 50 players, he said.

Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission officials have said that the Deep Creek Baseball Association is not to blame for the embezzlement; it was a victim.

Deep Creek officials had hoped to build a $1 million baseball complex for their games to replace the city fields they use now. Because of the case, it is expected to be a year before that project can be launched, depending on the outcome of court cases and an IRS investigation.

``We would have had a wonderful complex,'' Moore said. ``It would have been one of the better ones in the whole Tidewater area.''

After the bingo problems came to light, the league's treasurer took over the gaming operation.

In August or September 1996, board members had voted to end their bingo games but realized that it would cost them about $150,000 to get out of their contracts. And they had a good client base for bingo, Moore said. So they decided to keep the games.

``You've got to sell a lot of candy bars or wrapping paper to make this kind of money,'' he said. ``It's just hard to raise money any other way.''

Now the operation is expected to bring in $100,000 to $250,000 a year, as much as three times the amount brought in for a three-year period under West, Moore said.

The bingo operation has provided the league with money for better equipment. Already 12 teams have new catchers' gear, and this year's all-star team had new uniforms, Moore said.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of Moran's plea last week to a charge of falsifying a gaming invoice. Moran, 37, the sales manager for Frank Moran & Sons was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with all the time suspended. He also was ordered to pay restitution of $24,310 to the baseball association in the amount of $2,000 a month beginning in January.

The $24,310 represented the amount of money the baseball association did not receive from 13 cases of instant tickets involved in the transaction that led to the charge against Moran. The bingo supplier agreed that Ward could sell the tickets to West using an invoice that identified the sale as daubers - markers used on bingo cards. Moran's lawyers said he gave his permission as long as the purchase was correctly labeled as tickets on the bingo supplier's records.

Moran, who originally was charged with embezzlement, a felony, entered the plea to the misdemeanor, saying he did not admit to the crime but acknowledged that the evidence against him would be sufficient for a conviction.

West is scheduled for trial on Sept. 29. Legarda and Ward also have trial dates soon.

Martin J. Ganderson, the baseball association's corporate counsel, said Wednesday he thinks there is a bigger picture in the problems suffered by the league.

``There's a lot to learn from sports,'' Ganderson said. ``You learn how to win and take defeat. . . . I think the kids can also take a lesson from the actions of Deep Creek. They're meeting the adversity head on.'' KEYWORDS: EMBEZZLEMENT BINGO LAWSUIT

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