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Supervisor's stolen ID case delayed again

Written by John Saiz / Patterson Irrigator /

Wednesday, 05 December 2007

The rundown
Serena Essapour once represented Patterson, Newman and Turlock for state Sen. Jeff Denham. Now, she is accused of stealing the identity of Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini after he says he co-signed for a car for Essapour after she wrecked her own in a 2006 accident.

MODESTO — The criminal case against a woman accused of stealing a county supervisor’s identity got pushed back again Tuesday.

Serena Essapour, 22, of Turlock, is scheduled to return to Stanislaus County Superior Court on Jan. 29.

Essapour faces accusations that she used Supervisor Jim DeMartini’s name and Social Security number to receive credit cards and rack up about $10,000 in charges.

Serena Essapour

Essapour, a former staffer for state Sen. Jeff Denham and Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, faces grand theft and fraud-related charges. She once represented Patterson, Newman and Turlock for Denham’s office and stood in for the senator at various events, including the opening of the Patterson Aquatic Center.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Zeff agreed to postpone the preliminary hearing at the request of defense attorney Mark Geragos, but he made it clear that another delay was unlikely.

Geragos is best known in Stanislaus County for representing convicted murderer Scott Peterson. He did not appear at Tuesday’s hearing. Instead, he sent lawyer Shepard Kopp, who said Geragos could not be there because of another trial he was working at.

Zeff agreed to postpone the hearing because of the defendant’s right to choose a representative.

“The defendant has nearly the absolute right to have the lawyer she chooses,” Zeff said.
Still, he added that another delay would almost certainly not happen.

“If (Geragos) is too busy to handle all these cases, then he shouldn’t take all these cases,” Zeff said. “This case in my court is just as important, if not more important.”

Deputy District Attorney Dawna Frenchie criticized that the request for a delay was not made earlier. She had similar complaints in October, when Geragos requested that the trial be moved from Stanislaus County because the board of supervisors oversees the district attorney’s budget. Zeff refused that request, saying it could have been submitted sooner.

“This is the second time it happened, where it’s brought at the last possible second,” Zeff said.

Now, Zeff seems committed to get the case moving when it comes back in late January, regardless of whether there are further requests for delays.

“There comes a time in this case where it has to get off of dead center,” he said. “If Mr. Geragos isn’t available Jan. 29, someone better be.”

Supervisor Jim DeMartini

DeMartini, who represents Ceres, south Modesto and the West Side on the board of supervisors, described the delay as “disgraceful.”

“I don’t understand why the judge keeps allowing this to just be continued on and on and on,” he said by phone Tuesday.

DeMartini has said he came to known Essapour while working as chairman of Stanislaus County’s Republican Central Committee.

He helped her co-sign for a car after she wrecked her vehicle in 2006. He said he later received calls from credit card companies that indicated someone had tried to obtain cards in his name, and he put a fraud alert on them.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department made an arrest after reportedly catching Essapour on tape making a payment with one of those credit cards in a convenience store.

To reach John Saiz at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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