Accused Dixon film studio huckster must remain in jail, judge says

With accused con artist Carissa Carpenter watching in despair, a Sacramento judge refused Thursday to allow her release on bail while she awaits trial on charges that she bilked investors out of millions by pitching her dream of a movie studio project in Dixon and other locations.

"The fact is, your track record in this case has not been good," U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman told Carpenter, who stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief, then lowered her face onto her clasped hands and closed her eyes.

Carpenter attorney John Manning was making his fourth effort to win Carpenter's release from custody as she awaits trial in August, arguing that her many health problems cannot be adequately addressed while in jail.

But Newman told Carpenter that her past violations of the conditions of her release made it impossible for him to allow her out on bail, and added that he could not permit her to be released to live in Los Angeles, as she had requested.

Newman added that Carpenter has an "excellent" court-appointed attorney in Manning, who Carpenter has tried twice to have removed from the case.

"It is understandable that a person when they're in jail seems to think it's their lawyer's fault ..." Newman told her. "It wouldn't matter if you had F. Lee Bailey or Johnnie Cochran, pick whatever name you want. The result would be the same."

Carpenter, who has been in custody since last August and currently is being held at a federal facility in Pahrump, Nev., did not take the decision well.

Shaking her head no, Carpenter began whispering to Manning at the defense table then raised her voice in an audible cry.

"They killed my daughter and now they're going to let me die, too," she said. "There's no balance of justice here. It's all for the government."

Carpenter's 29-year-old daughter, Caroline, reportedly died in November 2015 following an illness, an incident that delayed the start of trial, which is now set for Aug. 6.

Carpenter is accused of bilking investors out of more than $5 million and of lying to FBI agents investigating the case. She spent 17 years traveling the nation talking of her dream to build a massive movie studio, including a $2.8 billion project in the Solano County farm town of Dixon.

That plan was derailed by a 2013 Sacramento Bee investigation that found she had a long trial of unpaid bills and court-ordered judgments. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento in October 2014.

This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Accused Dixon film studio huckster must remain in jail, judge says."