San Fernando Valley : Ex-Agent Admits Reagan Forgeries
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A former Secret Service agent who once guarded President Ronald Reagan has pleaded guilty to forging Reagan’s signature on sports memorabilia that were eventually sold on the Home Shopping Network, authorities said.
Randolph Espinosa, 45, of Ramona said some of the signatures on the hundreds of baseballs, bats and jackets he and the owner of a Canoga Park pawnshop sold to collectors bore Reagan’s actual signature, Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc Harris said. But he admitted forging others.
Richard Schwartz of Moorpark, owner of the pawnshop, also has pleaded guilty to forgery charges for working with Espinosa to sell the items--some of which bore the purported signatures of George Bush, John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy--to collectors who ended up reselling some of the items on the Home Shopping Network for as much as $250 apiece, authorities said.
Schwartz and Espinosa, both of whom will be sentenced March 21, face up to five years in prison.
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