Scam artists avoid jail time, enjoy 'custody'

By JEFF JARDINE
jjardine@modbee.com

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

Certain kinds of crime stories elicit different kinds of reactions and emotions.

The shooting in Turlock that left two robbers dead probably didn't generate much sympathy for anyone involved. After all, they were committing a crime, and it's hard to feel sorry for someone who pays the ultimate price for doing something so illegal. Most readers, I suspect, reacted with a nonplussed, "Oh, well ... ."

At the other end of the spectrum is the case of Lonni Ashlock and Ronald Buhler, two men who last year pleaded no contest to six felony counts of ripping off troubled and vulnerable homeowners.

This one is a blood-boiler.

Sentenced in September to a year in the county jail, these con artists have spent no time behind bars. They haven't had to eat jail food or even pick up trash as part of a work crew.

To the contrary, they live at home and wear electronic monitoring ankle bracelets. The devices don't track their whereabouts -- only whether they are at home.

They're supposed to leave only to go to work during a specified window of time, Stanislaus County Sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh said.

That stated, Ashlock and Buhler have been spotted in restaurants and movie theaters around town -- wearing their ankle bracelets, of course. That isn't part of the program, Singh said.

"They're definitely not allowed to be going to restaurants for dinner, and to movies," he said.

It's an honor system, Sheriff Adam Christianson said, and some of them aren't particularly honorable, or they wouldn't be in trouble in the first place.

"These are two guys, in my opinion, who deserve to be in custody," the sheriff said. "We don't have the jail space. I'm as upset as anyone about this."

That could change when he obtains the global positioning system technology that will track where an inmate goes, 24-7. But for now, Christianson said, "there's no accountability."

They'll have to explain their whereabouts the next time they meet with the program's deputy.

Ashlock and Buhler preyed on people about to lose their homes to foreclosure, in some cases praying with them to get them to sign over their deeds for pennies on the dollar. Buhler's business card bore a giant, outstretched hand, palm up, cupping a tiny home, car and boat with the words: "A helping hand in a time of need; offering another chance to stay."

They scammed an 86-year-old woman with dementia, a 66-year-old schizophrenic, a woman with brain lesions and several other disabled people, according to court documents and testimony.

Ashlock and Buhler continued to acquire properties -- Buhler using another name in one instance -- even after they were arrested in December 2005. And they tried to stash nearly $500,000 in assets in local banks before prosecutor Marlisa Ferreira froze them.

They agreed last fall to do a year in jail for the six felony counts rather than face 50 counts and state prison time, if convicted.

It already was a light sentence, considering that Bee reporter Garth Stapley found they had acquired at least 142 properties following a similar pattern. Ashlock and Buhler agreed to pay restitution to 19 and 20 families, respectively, and they've been going to court to watch their attorneys hash out how much they'll pay.

The easy answer to that should be "every last cent." But nothing has been easy in this particular case, except for the way these men are doing their so-called time. That's been way too easy.

They paid $50 apiece to apply for the alternative monitoring program, and they pay the Sheriff's Department $20 a day for the privilege. Since donning the ankle bracelets in early November, they each have paid roughly $2,400 to stay out of the slammer. They qualified for the monitoring program, Singh said, because they weren't considered violent, high-risk offenders.

"Almost a guaranteed disqualification are things like a sex crime, narcotics sales and violent crimes," Singh said. "Anything else is based on case by case."

With no criminal history, it didn't matter that authorities seized an Intratec TEC-9 pistol -- akin to the kind used in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado -- when they searched Ashlock's home in January 2007. They also found methamphetamine.

Now, in "custody," they've found another dupe -- a system that lets them roam free instead of doing the real jail time they deserve. They could be released in July, with credit for good behavior. Can we assume that includes not putting their elbows on a restaurant table or their feet on the back of a theater chair?

It's enough to make your blood boil.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.