Gerchas Arrested in False Statements on Car Loan

Mary Anne Gerchas, a potential defense witness in the O.J. Simpson double murder trial, was arrested for making false statements on a credit application to buy a car, authorities said Saturday.

District attorney’s investigators arrested Gerchas, 40, about 9 p.m. Friday at her Westside Pavilion shopping center jewelry store. She was booked on suspicion of perjury and released after posting $25,000 bail.

The allegation came to light during an investigation that was launched after Gerchas was named as a potential defense witness in the Simpson case, said district attorney’s spokeswoman Suzanne Childs.

In his opening statements, lead defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. said Gerchas was prepared to testify that she saw four men--none of them Simpson--near the murder scene the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman were killed.

The arrest came a day after Gerchas pleaded innocent to felony fraud charges that she failed to pay a hotel bill of $24,000.

Gerchas’ attorney, William T. Graysen, said Saturday that the charges against her are part of “a campaign of intimidation” involving her testimony.

“Why harass her? Why intimidate her?” Graysen said. “What it does is it gives her credibility. It shows how afraid they are. They are afraid of what she is going to say.”