Pubdate: 6 Nov 1998
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact:  http://www.sjmercury.com/
Copyright: 1998 Mercury Center
Author: Bill Romano, Staff Writer

ACCUSED EX-COP GETS DISABILITY

Gambling habit leads to pension; may have led to on-duty thefts

A city retirement board Thursday granted a disability pension of about
$27,000 a year to former San Jose police officer Johnny Venzon Jr., charged
with stealing from people on his beat. His disability: the uncontrollable
gambling authorities believe led to his alleged string of on-duty burglaries.

The 3-2 vote by the San Jose Police and Fire Retirement Board means the
48-year-old Venzon soon can begin receiving monthly checks for his
non-service-related disability. That money will come in even as Venzon sits
in Santa Clara County Jail, charged with 14 counts of burglary and one
count each of grand theft and receiving stolen property. His bail is set at
$300,000.

``I'm sure we'll get a lot of flak,'' said board member Bill Brill of the
city's Civil Service Commission. ``Johnny's no shining star. Obviously, our
concern was with his family, much less with Johnny.''

The board's decision is the latest twist in a bizarre case that for 18
months has enraged authorities, outraged the public and followed a winding
legal course.

Venzon is accused of embezzling money from the police department,
possessing uniforms stolen from fellow officers, burglarizing homes of
citizens and stealing from the relatives of the recently deceased. He has
blamed his alleged crimes on an overwhelming drive to gamble, a practice
that plunged him heavily into debt over the years.

Venzon pleaded guilty in June to three of four burglary counts but the
bargain was revoked after angry police officials voiced their displeasure
with the deal. The case has led to a variety of pending civil action.

Compassion for family

Brill said the board's decision was a difficult one, but he could live with
it. He added that in denying Venzon's disability retirement, the board
would have automatically deprived Venzon's wife, Deborah Venzon, and six
children of the medical benefits to which an ex-officer and his family are
entitled.

Venzon had earlier told the board that if he received the disability
pension, he would fill out direct-deposit slips to his wife's account. But
the board was not in a position to legally force him to do so, Brill added.

San Jose police officer David Bacigalupi, chairman of the retirement board,
and City Councilwoman Charlotte Powers, both opposed Venzon's latest
application. Firefighter Richard Santos, Councilwoman Alice Woody and Brill
all supported Thursday's motion. The five-member panel, however,
unanimously rejected an earlier bid by Venzon for a service-connected
disability due to cumulative stress.

According to the opinion of medical experts, Venzon suffers from
obsessive-compulsive disorder they compared in their reports to alcoholism.

Dr. Robert McIntyre, a clinical psychologist who interviewed Venzon in
jail, issued an evaluation to the board, saying: ``I believe his
psychiatric condition, specifically the pathological gambling, has
progressed to the point that it would preclude his operating as a police
officer in an efficient, responsible and competent fashion.''

Although he had no sympathy for the former officer, Santos said his ``heart
goes out'' to Venzon's family as well as the victims of his alleged thefts.

Medical evidence and opinion presented in the case, said Santos, tipped the
scales in favor of a non-service-connected disability. Had the city's own
doctor disagreed with those views he would have been more inclined to
reject Venzon's application, he added.

Bacigalupi asserted that Venzon could still have had a place in law
enforcement had he accepted counseling from the department for the
addiction that may have led to his current predicament.

``Barring where he is today -- he could be working as a police officer,''
Bacigalupi declared. ``But, Mr. Venzon chose the path of criminality. And
that does not meet the requirements for disability.''

Decision had been delayed

The final decision on Venzon's request had been delayed a number of times,
with the board divided on whether to award him a ``non-service'' disability
- -- unrelated to his work. But the panel could never muster the three-vote
majority needed to approve the pension until after the position vacated by
a retiring member could be filled.

Brill, who was appointed recently, cast the swing vote. In a prepared
statement, Brill informed the board that he had since read all the reports
and listened to tapes of earlier hearings and was ready to make a decision
on the matter.

After Thursday's hearing, Brill said that Venzon seemed to have suffered
from a gambling problem of ``pathological'' proportions.

Woody said the question simply was whether Venzon was disabled.

``It was that clear for me,'' she said. ``Do we consider a gambling
addiction a disability? The medical evidence was there to support that he
was disabled.''

Outside the meeting, Angelo Venzon said he thought the board acted fairly
toward his brother. Although the motion could have been denied, Johnny
Venzon would have begun receiving vested retirement benefits in seven more
years.

City Attorney Joan Gallo said Venzon's case was ``very unique.''

The city, she said, permits retirements for reasons of psychiatric
disability. Such conditions may sometimes involve an element of alcohol or
other drugs. Faced with expert medical opinion, the board's action was
based on by a legitimate rationale, she said.

``The board,'' Gallo said, ``granted his retirement because of his
psychiatric disability not because he was a gambler.''

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Checked-by: Pat Dolan