Ciling hopes full acquittal will clear his name

Temecula and Fallbrook businessman Sammy Ciling is a free man.

On June 28, after deliberation, a Riverside jury found Ciling not guilty of 17 counts of money laundering, six counts of grand theft, and a few sentence-enhancing white collar crime allegations that would have sent him away to prison for more than 20 years.

But Ciling is frustrated. He is frustrated with the district attorney's office that had him arrested, put him on trial and, he says, put his family's future in jeopardy.

"I could have been destroyed – we are strong, our family – but this broke my heart," Ciling said. "I had to hug my kids (before the verdict) because I might not come back home.

"I mean, everybody knows me here – and then you call me a thief?"

It all started back in 2014, when Ciling, along with his business partner, Dr. Donald Woo Lee, were arrested, each charged with 55 felony counts, and were initially held with bail set at $3.5 million each.

According to court papers filed by Deputy District Attorney Janet Hasegawa, Lee and Ciling, owners of Temecula Diagnostics and Fallbrook Diagnostics (My Imaging Center), fraudulently obtained several commercial loans from various financial institutions to purchase medical imaging equipment.

The loans, with Wells Fargo Bank and Zions Credit Corp., totaled more than $3 million, but the government alleged that Ciling and Lee did not use the funds for the stated purposes in the loan agreements. They said Ciling directed the scheme.

After the jury's not guilty verdicts were released, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Koosed ordered the DA's office to release the freeze on Cilings assets and closed the case.

"The jury got it," said Ciling's attorney, Richard Blumenfeld. "The great thing about the jury system is – the truth will come out – if you present the case properly and you give the jury a chance to evaluate who is telling the truth. And they had three-and-a-half weeks to evaluate their testimony and his testimony along with everybody else. And they got it right."

Ciling and Blumenfeld said at the heart of the case was the proof they presented and the spotty testimony provided by witnesses in the prosecution's case.

"I kept telling (the jury) who is telling you the truth here?" Blumenfeld said. "Sammy Ciling or this guy from Wells Fargo? Sammy Ciling or this guy from Zion? Sammy Ciling or the investigator from the DA's office?"

Dr. Lee will be tried separately in October and is free on a $150,000 bond.

Ciling is also frustrated with what he calls "the media," which he feels is doing him a disservice by reporting on the charges and the trial – but not the acquittal.

"I was already convicted and my trial had not even started," Ciling said. "It was horrible, my kids went through it, they go to school and (other kids) made fun of them. They couldn't even take their finals.

"You know, me, I could handle it. But for them, still, If you Google our name in Temecula it's, 'Dad got arrested, money laundering, theft.' All of that garbage is still there. Who is going to make this right?"

Today, Ciling just wants to clear his family name.

"(The DA's office) they're done with it, that's it, they move on," Ciling said. "What about me? I worked 30 years, all of that stuff that I owned, 30 years. I didn't take a cent from the government – I worked.

"I don't know if this is going to help, because that garbage is going to be there forever. But at least if something positive goes out, today, tomorrow – who knows, it might help."