Grand jury indicts homebuilder, wife

BY JOHN COX, Californian staff writer

The county grand jury has returned indictments against a former Bakersfield homebuilder and his wife, resulting in their arrest Wednesday in La Verne on charges of grand theft, conspiracy, forgery and diversion of funds.

The charges against Donald and Denise Juhasz follow an investigation by the county District Attorney's office into allegations by customers of Donald Juhasz's business, DMJ Customs Inc., that he took money meant to finance their homes but never built them.

Denise Juhasz was released early Thursday after posting $100,000 bail, while her husband remained in custody, according to the couple's defense attorney, Bill Slocumb. He said they had left their home in Bakersfield for La Verne because of publicity surrounding the allegations.

Slocumb said Donald Juhasz got caught up in a rapid rise and fall of the local residential real estate market. Denise Juhasz, he said, simply "wrote the checks."
"There were people that were hurt" in a change in the home market in 2006 and 2007, he said. "Don was hurt, some of his customers were hurt."

An arraignment date has been set for May 28, he said. Kern County Superior Court records show no such court date, and officials there declined to discuss the case, which they said remained closed to the public.

Under law, grand jury indictments are afforded special confidentiality. Details of such cases typically are not made public until more than a week after all attorneys involved are given copies of the grand jury transcript. Slocumb said he does not expect to see the grand jury's transcript until the arraignment.

Warrants for the Juhaszes's arrest were issued April 29, Bakersfield Police Sgt. Greg Terry said. That's the day the Grand Jury returned the indictment, Deputy District Attorney Richard Jackson said.
Terry said both Donald and Denise face the same charges: two counts of conspiracy, one count of forgery of a legal document, another count of forgery, one count of diversion of funds more than $1,000 and two counts of grand theft.
The couple filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in October 2007. According to bankruptcy court records, the couple owed creditors $6.4 million, and had $3.7 million in assets, most of that in real estate.

About a month before the filing, Bakersfield police searched the Juhaszes's home at 11228 Brightwater Way.

According to a statement written by police Detective F.H. Wooldridge and filed in court with the search warrant return, seven families had reported losses resulting from doing business with Donald Juhasz. Some of the families said he drew on their construction loans but did not pay subcontractors who worked on the projects.
Wooldridge's statement also outlined the couple's failed business investments and allegations that Donald Juhasz asked a friend to sign her name to a property's title.
One of the Juhaszes's alleged victims, Ammanda Meek, wrote in an e-mail Thursday that she was glad that the couple "will be held to answer for the crimes they are accused of."

"It has been a very long two years for my family and me," she wrote. "In the last two years we have lost our dream home, our savings, and our credit score. We are just glad that because of the hard work by the Bakersfield Police Department, and the Kern County District Attorney's office we are able to see light at the end of the tunnel. We will never be able to fully recover from the loss we have incurred."
Although Kern grand jury indictments are less common than charges brought by the county District Attorney's office, several cases originating with the grand jury have gone through the courts recently, including one earlier this year, Assistant District Attorney Mike Saleen said.

Saleen declined to say whether allegations against the Juhaszes were brought before the grand jury by his office or that of the state Attorney General.